Vacuum heat insulating material, heat insulating box using vacuum heat insulating material, refrigerator, refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus, water heater, equipments, and manufacturing method of vacuum heat insulating material

ABSTRACT

A highly reliable vacuum heat insulating material having excellent processability, usability and heat insulating performance and a heat insulating box using the vacuum heat insulating material are provided. A vacuum heat insulating material related to the present invention includes: a core material structured by a laminated structure of an organic fiber assembly formed by forming an organic fiber into a sheet shape and cutting an end face with a predetermined length, and having a core material opening portion formed by a through hole or a notch with cutting; a gas-barrier outer cover material containing the core material inside, having a sealing portion for sealing surrounding of the sheet-shaped organic fiber assembly and surrounding of the core material opening portion, and hermetically sealing an inside with almost vacuum status by sealing the sealing portion; and an outer cover material opening portion provided at the outer cover material under a status in which the sealing portion provided at the surrounding of the sheet-shaped organic fiber assembly and the surrounding of the core material opening portion is sealed, being a through hole or a notch which is smaller than the core material opening portion with a sealed amount, and a long fiber being equal to or longer than a length of the sheet is used for the organic fiber.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to vacuum heat insulating material, a heatinsulating box using this vacuum heat insulating material, in particularvacuum heat insulating material, and a heat insulating box, arefrigerator, equipments, and housing (wall surface, etc.) and so on.The equipments of the present invention include equipments in which thevacuum heat insulating material can be used such as an automatic vendingmachine, a cool box, a refrigerator, a calorifier, a water heatingappliance (water heater) for family use or business use, arefrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus for family use or business use,a showcase, a jar pot, etc.

BACKGROUND ART

Conventionally, urethane foam has been used for heat insulating materialused for the heat insulating box of the refrigerator, etc. Recently,according to requests from the market for energy-saving or space-savingand capacity-increasing, instead of the urethane foam, anotherstructure, in which vacuum heat insulating material having heatinsulating performance being better than the urethane foam is embeddedin the urethane foam and used together, is used. Such vacuum heatinsulating material is also used for the refrigerator, etc.

The vacuum heat insulating material is formed by inserting powder, foam,fiber body, etc. as a core material in an outer cover material made of aplastic laminated film, etc. in which aluminum foil is used for a gasbarrier layer. Inside of the vacuum heat insulating material, the degreeof vacuum is kept to no more than some Pa (pascal).

Further, in order to suppress degradation of the degree of vacuum whichbecomes a cause of decreasing the heat insulating performance of thevacuum heat insulating material, adsorption agent to sorb gas or wateris provided in the outer cover material. For the core material of thevacuum heat insulating material, powder such as silica, foam such asurethane, and fiber body, etc. is used. Currently, glass fiber havingexcellent heat insulating performance is mainly used for the corematerial of the vacuum heat insulating material.

Elements of the fiber include inorganic fibers such as glass fiber,ceramic fiber, etc. (refer to Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 8,for example).

Further, there are organic fibers such as polypropylene fiber,polylactate fiber, aramid fiber, LCP (liquid crystalline polymer) fiber,polyethylene terephthalate fiber, polyester fiber, polyethylene fiber,cellulose fiber, etc. (refer to Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 7,for example).

Shapes of the fiber body include cottonlike, lamination of sheets (referto Patent Document 3 and Patent Document 4, for example), and laminationof sheets with alternating fiber orientations of sheets (refer to PatentDocument 5 and Patent Document 6, for example).

Processing of the vacuum heat insulating material includes formation ofan opening portion (refer to Patent Document 9, for example) or formingan concave portion on the core material for folding processing (refer toPatent Document 10, for example).

RELATED ART DOCUMENTS Patent Documents

-   Patent document 1: JP H08-028776 A-   Patent document 2: JP 2002-188791 A-   Patent document 3: JP 2005-344832 A-   Patent document 4: JP 2006-307921 A-   Patent document 5: JP 2006-017151 A-   Patent document 6: JP H07-103955 B-   Patent document 7: JP 2006-283817 A-   Patent document 8: JP 2005-344870 A-   Patent document 9: JP 2006-161939 A-   Patent document 10: JP H10-253243 A

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention

Like the above, for the currently used vacuum heat insulating material,the glass fibers are mainly used as the core material. However, sincethe glass fiber is stiff and brittle, at the time of manufacturing thevacuum heat insulating material, powder dust flows dispersedly to causeto stick to skin/mucous membrane of a worker, which may cause stimulus,and a problem exists in the usability and workability.

Further, from the viewpoint of recycling, for example, the refrigeratoris demolished for each product in a recycle factory. At this time, theglass fiber is mixed with urethane waste, etc. and supplied to thermalrecycle. There is a problem that the recyclability of the glass fiber isnot good such that it causes to degrade the combustion efficiency, toremain as residue, etc.

On the other hand, in case of using polyester fiber for the corematerial, the usability and the recyclability are excellent. However,the vacuum heat insulating material using polyester fiber shows the heatconductivity which is an index representing the heat insulatingperformance is around 0.0030 [W/mK] (refer to Patent Document 7, forexample). There is a problem that the vacuum heat insulating materialusing polyester fiber for the core material, compared with the generalvacuum heat insulating material using the glass fiber for the corematerial (the heat conductivity: around 0.0020 [W/mK]), shows worse heatinsulating performance.

Because of this, it is possible to improve the heat insulatingperformance by making the organic fiber layer thin and directing theorientation of the fibers in the direction being orthogonal to the heattransfer direction. However, in such a case, the number of laminatedsheets exceeds some hundreds, so that the productivity is bad. Further,when the hole formation or the notch formation are conducted, since thenumber of laminated sheets is large, it is not easy to carry out thehole formation or the notch formation of the laminated sheet-shaped bodyof the organic fiber assembly. Further, for the bending process, sincethe number of laminated sheets is large, the usability and theproductivity are bad.

Further, when the organic fiber assembly is used for the core material,if the thickness of one sheet (represented by the fabric weight) isthin, the fiber may be deformed by the pressure force due to thevacuuming pressure at the time of vacuum forming and the temperature.When the fibers are deformed, the thickness is largely decreased, andthe number of laminated sheets may increase drastically.

Further, the vacuum heat insulating material in which the glass fibersare used for the core material is excellent in the heat insulatingperformance. However, if the hole formation or the notch formation isdone, processed powder of the glass fiber flows dispersedly around theprocessed portion of the hole formation or the notch formation.Accordingly, even if the outer cover material around the hole formationis sealed/adhesion sealed, the processed powder of the glass fiber mayintrude into the sealing portion, which causes incomplete sealing anddegrades the degree of vacuum.

Further, even when the organic fiber is used for the core material, ifshort fibers of which the fiber length is short are used, in case ofdoing the hole formation or the notch formation, processed powder of thefiber may protrude or flow dispersedly around the processed portion ofthe hole formation or the notch formation. The protruding fiber powdermay intrude into the sealing portion for sealing/deposition sealing ofthe outer cover material inside of the processed portion of the hole orthe notch formation, which causes incomplete sealing and degrades thedegree of vacuum, and further degrades the heat insulating performance.Further, similarly to the above, from the processed portion of the endface (cutoff portion) of the core material, the processed powder mayprotrude or flow dispersedly to the neighborhood and intrude to thesealing portion of the outer cover material for sealing/depositionsealing, which may cause incomplete sealing, degrades the degree ofvacuum, and decreases the heat insulating performance.

Here, the vacuum heat insulating material described in Patent Document 9uses sheet-shaped fiber assembly formed by short-fibered organic fiberhaving the size of 200 mm×200 mm, and the fiber length of 10 to 150 mm,preferably 20 to 80 mm for the core material. Then from the centerportion of the sheet, the size of 100 mm×100 mm is cut and removed toform a through hole. However, since the short fibers having short fiberlength are used, the fibers are cutoff by cutting to form the throughhole. At this time, the fiber length of the remaining fiber possibly beextremely short. If the fiber length of the remaining fiber is short,the remaining fiber cannot be tangled with the existing fiber whichexists in the sheet, the remaining fiber may protrude from around thethrough hole, flow dispersedly to intrude into the sealed portion of theouter cover material around the through hole, which may cause thesealing failure.

For example, it is assumed that the initial fiber length is 80 mm. Whenthe through hole having the size of 100 mm×100 mm is made by cutting, if75 mm out of the initial fiber length 80 mm is cut by the through holeformation, the remaining fiber on the sheet is 5 mm. When the remainingfiber is short such as 5 mm, the remaining fiber cannot be tangled withthe existing fiber on the sheet and maintained on the sheet, but mayprotrude from around the through hole to the outside of the sheet, andfurther may come out of the sheet. Similarly, in case of using the shortfiber for the core material, when the end face of the core material orthe fiber assembly is cut in order to form the sheet of a predeterminedsize, the remaining fiber on the sheet may protrude from the end face ofthe core material, or may come out of the sheet. When the core materialis inserted into the outer cover material and sealed, the remainingfiber intrudes to the sealing portion, which may cause the sealingfailure. Accordingly, it is necessary to make the length of sealinglong, which increases the manufacturing cost.

Further, when the glass fiber is used for the core material of thevacuum heat insulating material, the glass fiber is excellent in heatinsulating performance. However, since the glass fiber is hard andbrittle, it is difficult to do folding processing after vacuuming.

Further, when the glass fiber is used for the core material of thevacuum heat insulating material, the glass fiber is excellent in heatinsulating performance. However, since the glass fiber is hard andbrittle, if the piping such as a cooler piping, etc. is inserted betweenthe vacuum heat insulating material and the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial for insulating heat, the vacuum heat insulating material cannotbe deformed to be a tubular shape, and thus there exists a gapcorresponding to the diameter of the piping between the vacuum heatinsulating materials. Accordingly, heat leakage occurs from the gapbetween the vacuum heat insulating materials, which degrades the heatinsulating performance drastically.

Further, in case of using the organic fiber for the core material, whenplural sheets are laminated to form the core material, the vacuum heatinsulating material becomes harder as the number of laminated layersincreases. Accordingly, when it is necessary to do folding process aftervacuuming, there is a problem that it is difficult to fold a portionwhich needs to be folded, and the portion which is not desired to befolded may be deformed.

Here, in the vacuum heat insulating material described in PatentDocument 10, the micro-powder of silica, parlight, etc. and fiberglass(the glass fiber), or foam urethane heat insulating material ofcontinuous foaming is used. It is described then, the concave groove isformed on the core material of the vacuum heat insulating material, andfrom this concave groove, the folding is done. However, in this case,since the micro-powder such as silica, parlight, etc. and fiberglass(the glass fiber), etc. are used, as discussed above, usability is notgood. Further, in this case, since the micro-powder such as silica,parlight, etc. and fiberglass (the glass fiber), etc. are used, asdiscussed above, the usability is bad, and there is a problem at thetime of the recycling.

Further, since the manufacturing method for the concave groove is notdescribed, when micro-powder such as silica, parlight, etc., and glassfiber are used for the core material, it is unclear how to provide thecore material with a desired concave groove. In particular, in case ofusing the glass fiber, the formation of the concave groove status isdifficult.

Further, in case of foam urethane, there is some problems: manufacturingis difficult, the manufacturing cost is high, and further the heatinsulating performance is worse. Further, it is necessary to change thesize of the concave portion according to the size of the curve, in caseof foam urethane, to change the size requires to change a forming die,etc. which largely increases manufacturing time and manufacturing cost.

The present invention is provided to solve the above problems and aimsto provide the vacuum heat insulating material including at leastfeatures which will be shown below, the heat insulating box using thevacuum heat insulating material, and the equipments using the heatinsulating box such as an automatic vending machine, a cool box, arefrigerator, a water heater, a refrigerating/air-conditioningapparatus, etc.

(1) having high heat insulating performance, and excellent usability andrecyclability;(2) having high heat insulating performance and excellent productivity;(3) in case of using the organic fiber assembly for the core material,having excellent productivity and less deformation caused by compressionforce at the time of vacuum forming or temperature;(4) being easy to carry out a hole formation, a notch formation, foldingprocessing, having good sealing property, with a low cost, having highheat insulating performance, and easy usability;(5) being changeable in a shape of a concave groove according to thesize of the curve of folding process, and having easy manufacturability;and(6) having a concave groove along a shape of piping.

Means to Solve the Problems

According to the present invention, a vacuum heat insulating materialincludes:

a core material structured by a laminated structure of an organic fiberassembly made by forming an organic fiber into a sheet shape and cuttingan end face with a predetermined length, or structured by afterlaminating the organic fiber assembly made by the organic fiber formedinto the sheet shape, cutting the end face with the predeterminedlength, and having a core material opening portion formed by a throughhole or a notch provided by cutting;

a gas-barrier outer cover material containing the core material inside,having a sealing portion for sealing surrounding of the core materialstructured by the laminated structure of the sheet-shaped organic fiberassembly and surrounding of the core material opening portion, andhermetically sealing an inside with almost vacuum status by sealing thesealing portion; and

an outer cover material opening portion provided at the outer covermaterial under a status in which the sealing portion provided at thesurrounding of the sheet-shaped core material and the surrounding of thecore material opening portion is sealed, being a through hole or a notchwhich is smaller than the core material opening portion with a sealedamount, and

a long fiber being equal to or longer than a length of the core materialis used for the organic fiber.

According to the present invention, a vacuum heat insulating materialincludes:

a core material structured by a laminated structure of an organic fiberassembly made by forming an organic fiber into a sheet shape, having acutting portion where an end face is cut so as to be a predeterminedlength;

a gas-barrier outer cover material containing the core material inside,and having a sealing portion for sealing surrounding the cutting portionin a range being larger than the cutting portion of the core materialwith an amount of sealing length; and

a vacuum heat insulating material hermetically sealing an inside of anouter cover material with almost vacuum status by sealing the sealingportion of the outer over material, and

a long fiber being equal to or longer than a length of the core materialis used for the organic fiber.

In the vacuum heat insulating material of the present invention, athickness of the organic fiber assembly is, when the organic fiberassembly is contained inside of the gas-barrier outer cover materialwith an almost vacuum state, at least 3 times and no more than 18 timesof a diameter of the organic fiber.

In the vacuum heat insulating material of the present invention,

the organic fiber assembly is formed in a sheet-shape by applying heatdeposition on continuous organic fiber, and

an area of the heat deposited portion is made no more than 20% of anarea of the sheet.

In the vacuum heat insulating material of the present invention,

the organic fiber assembly is formed in a sheet-shape by applying heatdeposition on continuous organic fiber,

a fabric weight of a non-woven cloth which is the organic fiber assemblyis at least 4.7 g/m² and no more than 70 g/m², or at least 140 g/m² andno more than 198 g/m², and

the heat deposited portion is made to penetrate from a front surface toa rear surface of the organic fiber assembly

In the vacuum heat insulating material of the present invention,

the organic fiber assembly is formed in a sheet-shape by applying heatdeposition on continuous organic fiber,

a fabric weight of a non-woven cloth which is the organic fiber assemblyis at least 4.7 g/m² and no more than 100 g/m², and

the heat deposited portion is made not to penetrate from a front surfaceto a rear surface of the organic fiber assembly.

In the vacuum heat insulating material of the present invention,

a fabric weight of a non-woven cloth which is the organic fiber assemblyis at least 85 g/m² and no more than 198 g/m², so that deformation ofthe organic fiber assembly caused by compression force is made small atthe time of vacuum forming

In the vacuum heat insulating material of the present invention, theheat deposited portion is provided with a through hole or a concaveportion which is smaller than a size of the heat deposited portion andwithin a range heat deposition of the organic fiber assembly can bemaintained in a thickness direction of the organic fiber assembly

According to the present invention, a vacuum heat insulating materialincludes:

a core material structured by a laminated structure of an organic fiberassembly formed by forming an organic fiber into a sheet-shape and heatdeposition applied, and having a cutting portion where an end face iscut so as to be a predetermined length;

a gas-barrier outer cover material containing the core material inside,and having a sealing portion for sealing surrounding of the cuttingportion in a range being larger than the cutting portion of the corematerial with an amount of sealing length; and

a vacuum heat insulating material hermetically sealing an inside of anouter cover material with almost vacuum status by sealing the sealingportion of the outer over material, and

a thickness of the organic fiber assembly is made at least 3 times andno more than 18 times of an average fiber diameter of the organic fiber,a fabric weight of the organic fiber assembly is made at least 4.7 g/m²and no more than 70 g/m², and a range in which the organic fiberassembly is provided with a heat deposited portion is made no more than20% of an area of the organic fiber assembly body of the sheet-shape.

In the vacuum heat insulating material of the present invention, a crosssectional shape of a fiber forming the organic fiber assembly is made amodified cross sectional shape such as almost triangular, C-shaped, etc.

In the vacuum heat insulating material of the present invention, aplurality of types of core material having different fabric weights aremixed and laminated.

In the vacuum heat insulating material of the present invention,

the core material is formed by a first organic fiber assembly folded andlaminated and a second organic fiber assembly folded and laminated, and

the first organic fiber assembly and the second organic fiber assemblyare folded so as to intersect each other.

In the vacuum heat insulating material of the present invention, theorganic fiber is continuous in a length direction or a width directionof the organic fiber assembly.

In the vacuum heat insulating material of the present invention, anorganic fiber of the organic fiber assembly is one of polyester,polystyrene, polypropylene, polylactate, aramid, and liquid crystallinepolymer.

According to the present invention, a heat insulating box includes: anexternal box; and an internal box arranged inside of the external box,and

the above vacuum heat insulating material of one of claims 1 through 14is provided at either of a gap on a surface of the external box betweenthe external box and the internal box, a gap on a surface of theexternal box between the external box and the internal box, and a gap ona surface of the internal box between the external box and the internalbox.

In the heat insulating box of the present invention, a spacer isprovided between the external box and the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial.

According to the present invention, a refrigerator provided with theabove vacuum heat insulating material on a storage room door or a heatinsulating wall between a machine room containing a compressor and acooler room containing a cooler generating cold air.

In the refrigerator of the present invention, the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial is provided with an opening portion such as a through hole or anotch, and the opening portion is arranged at a position of a pipingconnecting the compressor and the cooler so that the piping passesthrough the vacuum heat insulating material.

According to the present invention, a refrigerating/air-conditioningapparatus includes: an outdoor unit having a cabinet having an almostrectangular cubic shape, a partition wall for partitioning inside of thecabinet into a fan room containing a fan and a machine room containing acompressor, and the vacuum heat insulating material provided at least apart of an inside or an outside of the machine room.

According to the present invention, a water heater includes: a cabinethaving an almost rectangular cubic shape or an almost cylindrical shape;and a hot water tank having an almost cylindrical shape, for reservingwater or hot water, and contained in the cabinet, and all or at least apart of inside wall of the cabinet is provided with the above vacuumheat insulating material.

According to the present invention, an equipment includes: an almostcylindrical container such as a compressor or a tank, surrounding of thecontainer is provided with the above vacuum heat insulating material inwhich a long fibered organic fiber having a length being equal to orlonger than a length of the core material is used.

According to the present invention, an equipment such as a refrigeratoror a refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus, etc., displays an overallview or a partial view such as a cross section, a development view, acubic diagram, a perspective view, etc. of the equipment on a rearsurface or a side surface of a body of the equipment, and furtherdisplays a provided position of the above vacuum heat insulatingmaterial of one in either of the overall view or the partial view.

According to the present invention, a method for manufacturing a vacuumheat insulating material includes: a collecting step for extrudingheat-deposited resin in a continuous state from a plurality of alignednozzles and collecting on a conveyer as a plurality of organic fibers; areeling step for feeding the conveyer at a predetermined speed, andproducing an organic fiber assembly in a reeled sheet state by applyingpressure with a roller and applying heat-deposition; a core materialprocessing step for making a core material having a predetermined sizeby cutting an end face of the organic fiber assembly produced by thereeling step; a decompressing step for inserting the core material intoan outer cover material from an insertion opening and decompressing aninside to an almost vacuum state; and an outer cover material sealingstep for sealing the insertion opening of the outer cover material theinside of which is decompressed to the almost vacuum state at thedecompressing step.

In the method for manufacturing the vacuum heat insulating material ofthe present invention, the collecting step includes: an extruding stepfor continuously extruding heated and melted resin in a predeterminedwidth from a plurality of aligned nozzles; a fiberizing step for coolingthe resin continuously extruded from the nozzles at the extruding stepand then stretching by compressed air to fiberize, or a fiberizing stepfor blowing high-temperature air with a temperature being almost equalto a melting temperature of the resin from neighborhood of an extrudinghole of the nozzles to the resin extruded from the nozzles; and a fibercollecting step for collecting a plurality of organic fibers fiberizedat the fiberizing step on the conveyer.

In the method for manufacturing the vacuum heat insulating material ofthe present invention, the core material processing step makes the corematerial having a predetermined size by cutting an end face afterlaminating a plurality of layers of organic fiber assembly.

The method for manufacturing the vacuum heat insulating material of thepresent invention, a range to which the heat deposition is applied is nomore than 20% of a total of the sheet.

In the method for manufacturing the vacuum heat insulating material ofthe present invention, a fabric weight of the organic fiber assembly isat least 4.7 g/m² and no more than 26 g/m².

Effect of the Invention

According to the vacuum heat insulating material of the presentinvention, since the long-fibered organic fiber assembly is used for thecore material, it is possible to suppress protrusion to the cuttingportion of the non-woven cloth sheet of a remaining fiber generated bycutting; that is, the protrusion, etc. of the remaining fiber, generatedby cutting from the cutting portion when the short fibers are used forthe core material, would never occur.

Further, since the organic fiber non-woven cloth sheet is used for thecore material, it is possible to provide the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial having excellent processability, usability, heat insulatingperformance, or productivity, and equipments having this vacuum heatinsulating material such as the heat insulating box, the automaticvending machine, the cool box, the refrigerator, the water heater, therefrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus, showcase, etc.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the first embodiment and is a pattern diagram of a vacuumheat insulating material 7, and is a perspective view of a core material5 of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 made by laminating aplurality of non-woven cloth sheets.

FIG. 2 shows the first embodiment and is a pattern diagram of the vacuumheat insulating material 7, and is a side view showing orientation offiber in one non-woven cloth sheet.

FIG. 3 shows the first embodiment and is a pattern diagram of the vacuumheat insulating material 7, and is a side view showing orientationsituation of fiber when the core material 5 is thick.

FIG. 4 shows the first embodiment and is an exploded perspective viewshowing a structure of the vacuum heat insulating material 7.

FIG. 5 shows the first embodiment and is a perspective view showing bypattern a lamination procedure of the core material 5 that forms thevacuum heat insulating material 7.

FIG. 6 shows the first embodiment and is a perspective view showing bypattern a lamination procedure of the core material 5 that forms thevacuum heat insulating material 7.

FIG. 7 shows the first embodiment and is a correlation diagram forexplaining heat insulating performance of the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7.

FIG. 8 shows the first embodiment and is a schematic view extendedlyshowing a structure of vertical cross section of the core material 5used for the vacuum heat insulating material 7.

FIG. 9 shows the first embodiment and shows measured result of heatconductivity of the vacuum heat insulating material 7.

FIG. 10 is a graphed chart of the measured result shown in FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 shows the first embodiment and is a cross sectional view ofnon-woven cloth which is an organic fiber assembly 1 of the vacuum heatinsulating material 7.

FIG. 12 shows the first embodiment and shows correlation between fabricweight of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 and heat conductivity.

FIG. 13 shows the first embodiment and shows correlation between fabricweight of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 and heat conductivity.

FIG. 14 shows the first embodiment and is a cross section view ofnon-woven cloth which is the organic fiber assembly 1 of the vacuum heatinsulating material 7.

FIG. 15 shows the first embodiment and shows relation between fabricweight of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 and heat conductivity.

FIG. 16 shows the first embodiment and is a correlation diagram showingrelation between fabric weight of the vacuum heat insulating material 7and compression strain.

FIG. 17 shows the first embodiment and is a diagrammatic view showingfabric weight and the number of laminated sheets (the number oflaminated sheets when the thickness of vacuum heat insulating materialis a predetermined thickness, for example, the thickness after vacuumingis a predetermined thickness) of the vacuum heat insulating material 7.

FIG. 18 shows the first embodiment and is a frontal view of the vacuumheat insulating material 7 having an opening portion.

FIG. 19 shows the first embodiment and shows appearance of the openingportion of the core material 5 of the vacuum heat insulating material 7when short fiber is used for the core material 5.

FIG. 20 shows the first embodiment and is a drawing showing an examplein which a heat deposited portion such as an embossing 110 around anouter circumference of the opening portion of the core material 5 of thevacuum heat insulating material 7.

FIG. 21 shows the first embodiment and is a sectional side view offrontal view for explaining a heat insulating box and showing by patternan application example to a refrigerator 100.

FIG. 22 shows the first embodiment and is a cross sectional view of therefrigerator 100.

FIG. 23 is a pattern diagram showing the core material 5 of the vacuumheat insulating material 7 used for a heat insulating partition of therefrigerator 100 shown in FIG. 22.

FIG. 24 shows the first embodiment and is a pattern diagram showing thevacuum heat insulating material 7 used for the heat insulating partitionof the refrigerator 100.

FIG. 25 shows the first embodiment and is a pattern diagram showing thevacuum heat insulating material 7 used for the heat insulating partitionof the refrigerator 100.

FIG. 26 shows the first embodiment and is a pattern diagram showing thecore material 5 of a vacuum heat insulating material 701.

FIG. 27 shows the first embodiment and is a pattern diagram showing thevacuum heat insulating material 701 used for heat insulating of acompressor 600 or a hot water tank of a water heater.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiment 1

FIGS. 1 through 4 show the first embodiment; FIG. 1 is a pattern diagramof a vacuum heat insulating material 7 and is a perspective view of acore material 5 of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 made bylaminating a plurality of non-woven cloth sheets; FIG. 2 is a patterndiagram of the vacuum heat insulating material 7, and is a side viewshowing an orientation of fabric in one sheet of non-woven cloth; FIG. 3is a pattern diagram of the vacuum heat insulating material 7, and is aside view showing an orientation situation of fabric when the corematerial 5 is thick; and FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showinga structure of the vacuum heat insulating material 7.

(Laminated Structure)

In FIG. 1, the core material 5 has a laminated structure in whichsheet-shaped organic fiber assembly (hereinafter, “organic fiberassembly 1”) is laminated.

In FIG. 2, the organic fiber assembly 1 is formed by a plurality oforganic fibers 2 x and a plurality of organic fibers 2 y which arearranged with a predetermined interval in a direction beingapproximately orthogonal to the organic fibers 2 x.

At this time, the organic fibers 2 x and the organic fibers 2 y makeapproximate point contact. Among the organic fibers 2 y, an air room 3being a heat insulated room is formed.

As a collective term of the organic fibers 2 x and the organic fibers 2y, the organic fibers 2 are used.

Here, as shown in FIG. 3, if the thickness of one sheet (the organicfiber assembly 1) is increased, the fiber tends to be orientated to athickness direction which is a heat transfer direction. In particular,when the organic fibers 2 (sometimes called simply as a fiber) is ashort fiber having a short fiber length (for example, the fiber lengthis around 5 to 150 mm), the short fiber tends to be orientated to thethickness direction which is the heat transfer direction. Through thisshort fiber, heat is transferred from a front surface of the sheet to arear surface, and heat insulating performance is degraded.

Accordingly, by thinly laminating the organic fiber assembly 1 to makethin-sheet-shaped, it is possible to prevent the fiber from being madeorientated to the heat transfer direction (the laminating direction offibers of the organic fiber assembly 1; the thickness direction of thesheet-shaped organic fiber assembly 1). Thereby, degradation of heatinsulating performance caused by heat transfer through the fiberorientated to the heat transfer direction can be suppressed. Therefore,a heat conductivity of the core material 5 can be made small, whichenables to increase the heat insulating performance.

In FIG. 2, an arrow in a solid line and an arrow in a broken line showthe heat transfer direction. Since the organic fibers 2 x and theorganic fibers 2 y are almost orthogonal, a contacting part of theorganic fibers 2 x and the organic fibers 2 y become point contact, andthus heat resistance is increased and the heat insulating performance isimproved.

Here, the above shows a case when the organic fibers 2 x and the organicfibers 2 y intersect almost orthogonal, however, the present embodimentis not limited to this case. The organic fibers 2 x and the organicfibers 2 y can intersect with an angle other than a right angle. It issufficient that the organic fibers 2 x and the organic fibers 2 y arenot placed in parallel. Only if the degradation of heat insulatingperformance caused by the heat transfer through the fiber orientated tothe heat transfer direction can be suppressed a little bit, it ispossible to improve the heat insulating performance.

In FIG. 4, the vacuum heat insulating material 7 has a gas barriercontainer (“an outer cover material 4”, hereinafter) having air barrierproperties, a core material 5 and an adsorption agent 6 (gas absorbentor water absorbent (CaO), for example) sealed inside of the outer covermaterial 4. The inside of the outer cover material 4 is decompressed toa predetermined degree of vacuum (some Pa (pascal) to some hundreds Pa).

(Organic Fiber)

As for material used for the organic fibers 2 which forms the corematerial 5 of the vacuum heat insulating material 7, polyester, andothers such as polypropylene, polylactate, aramid, LCP (liquidcrystalline polymer), PPS, polystyrene, etc. can be used. Further, ifthe heat-resistant properties of the core material 5 is desired to beincreased, heat-resistant resin such as LCP (liquid crystallinepolymer), PPS, etc. should be used. Further, if the compressive creepproperties desired to be increased, fibers having a large fiber diametershould be used. Further, if the above resins are mixed and used, thevacuum heat insulating material 7 having an excellent compressive creepproperties, high heat-resistance, and high heat insulating propertiescan be obtained. Polystyrene has small solid heat conductivity, and itis expected that the heat insulating performance can be improved, andmanufacture can be done with a low cost.

Since polypropylene has low hygroscopic property, it is possible toreduce time for drying or vacuuming by using polypropylene and theproductivity can be improved. Further, polypropylene has small solidheat conductivity, it is possible to expect the improvement of heatinsulating performance of the vacuum heat insulating material 7.

Further, since polylactate has biodegradability, after use of theproduct, the disorganized and sorted core material can be processed bydisposal by landfill.

Further, since aramid or LCP has high stiffness, shape retentioncapacity is good when is vacuum-packed and is applied with air pressure,and the porosity can be increased, and there is a merit that it ispossible to expect the improvement of the heat insulating performance.

The core material 5 serves, for example, in the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 which uses a plastic laminating film for the outer covermaterial 4, a role to secure a space within the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 for supporting air pressure, and another role to reduce theheat conduction of gas by precisely dividing the space. Here, from aview point of heat conduction control of gas, it is desirable that thedistance within this room should be made smaller than free traveldistance of air molecule at the degree of vacuum.

In this embodiment, the organic fibers 2 are used for the core material5 of the vacuum heat insulating material 7, when compared with a case inwhich hard and brittle glass fiber is used as the core material, at thetime of manufacturing the vacuum heat insulating material 7, powder dustdoes not flow dispersedly and does not stick to the skin/mucosalmembrane of a worker to cause irritation, and thus usability andworkability can be improved.

(Fiber Assembly)

The organic fiber assembly 1 (organic fiber assembly, the same as thesheet-shaped assembly) which forms the core material 5 is manufacturedby making heated and melted polyester resin or polystyrene resin fallfreely on a conveyer from a number of nozzles aligned in a width whichis desired to produce and reeling with pressure by a roller with feedingthe conveyer at an arbitrary speed. The bulk density of the organicfiber assembly 1 is adjusted by discharge amount of the melted resin andthe speed of the conveyer, and it is possible to obtain fiber assemblieshaving different thickness.

Further, as for long fiber non-woven cloth which is the organic fiberassembly 1, continuous fiber melted by an extruder and extruded from aspinning nozzle is collected on the conveyer, the conveyer is fed at anarbitrary speed, and long fibered non-woven cloth being able to bereeled is obtained.

Further, for fiber spinning, a method can be used, in which aftercooling the resin by cold air, etc. directly under the nozzle, bystretching the resin with compressed air, etc. to fiberize; and anothermethod by blowing, from the side of a nozzle hole, the resin withhigh-temperature air which is as high as the melting temperature of theresin.

Here, the organic fiber assembly 1 obtained by the above methods may bedifficult to handle at the time of manufacturing the vacuum heatinsulating material 7, since organic fibers 2 are disjointed with eachother. Then, at the time of applying pressure, the organic fibers 2 canbe heat-deposited. At this time, applying excessive pressure, orexcessive heat-deposition may increase a contacting area between theorganic fibers 2, increase heat transfer, and heat conduction from thewelding unit, which degrades the heat insulating performance. Therefore,the contacting area between the organic fibers 2 should be made small asmuch as possible. The contacting area between the organic fibers 2 isdesired to be no more than 20% of the total area (the sheet area),preferably no more than 15%, more preferably no more than 8%.

Since it is confirmed that a rate occupied by the heat depositionexceeds 20% of the total area (the sheet area), the heat conductivitybecomes large, and the heat insulating performance is degraded, the rateoccupied by the heat deposition is preferably no more than 20% of thetotal area (the sheet area). Here, if the rate of the occupied by theheat deposition to the total area (the sheet area) is made small, theheat insulating performance is extremely improved, so that it is desiredthat the rate occupied by the heat deposition is suppressed to be nomore than 15% of the total area (the sheet area), and further, no morethan 8% of the total area (the sheet area).

As for the heat deposition, an embossing 110 is done by, for example,adding dotted welded spots by a heat roller, long-fibered non-wovencloth (the organic fiber assembly 1) which is reelable and has a goodheat insulating performance can be obtained, while securing handlingstrength. Here, in the present embodiment, the temperature of the heatroller is made about 195 degrees Celsius.

Next, the obtained sheet-shaped organic fiber assembly 1 is cut (cutout) with an end face 1 a so as to be, for example, a size of A4 (width210 mm×length 297 mm) which is a predetermined size. By laminating theseinto a plurality of layers (twenty-five layers, for example), the corematerial 5 is formed, which has a predetermined size and a predeterminedthickness, and of which an end surface 5 a is cut (the core material 5can be formed by cutting the end face 5 a to become a predetermined sizeafter laminating the sheet-shaped organic fiber assembly 1). Here, thenumber of sheets to be laminated can be set arbitrarily based on thethickness of the organic fiber assembly 1 obtained and the thickness ofthe vacuum heat insulating material 7 which is desired to manufacture.

(Fiber Diameter)

In this first embodiment, the fiber diameter of the organic fiberassembly 1 is adjusted by the nozzle diameter so as to be about 15 p.m.As for the heat insulating performance, the smaller the fiber diameteris, the better the heat insulating performance is. Theoretically, thefiber diameter is desired to be small due to the relation between degreeof internal vacuum of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 with thespecial distance segmented by fibers, and with a free travel distance ofgas molecule. The fiber diameter is desired to be no more than 15 μM,preferably no more than 10 μm; the average fiber diameter of around 9 μmcan be used.

The measurement of the average fiber diameter can be done by measuringdiameters of some to some tens of parts (ten parts, for example) using amicroscope and using an average value. Further, fabric weight (weight(g) of fiber per 1 m²) can be obtained by measuring an area and a weightof one sheet and obtaining a weight per unit area of one sheet.

In the present embodiment, by regulating an orientation direction offiber to almost orthogonal to the thickness direction which is heatinsulating direction, a plurality of the organic fiber assemblies 1 arelaminated to form a multi-layered structure.

Further, when short fibered non-woven cloth is used for the organicfiber assembly 1, since the fiber length is short, the organic fibers 2x and the organic fibers 2 y tend to be orientated in the heatinsulating direction (the thickness direction of sheet). In order tosuppress degradation of the heat insulating performance due to the heattransfer through the fibers orientated in the heat insulating direction,long-fibered non-woven cloth, which uses longs fiber, is used for theorganic fiber assembly 1.

In the present embodiment, as for the fiber length, at least almost thesame length as the length of the sheet is used, so that it is preventedthat fiber may be torn halfway in the sheet and a part (a mid) or an endof the fiber may be orientated in the heat insulating direction so as todegrade the heat insulating performance.

(Lamination of Fiber Assembly)

FIGS. 5 and 6 show the first embodiment; FIG. 5 is a perspective viewshowing by pattern a lamination procedure of the core material 5 thatforms the vacuum heat insulating material 7, and FIG. 6 is a perspectiveview showing by pattern a lamination procedure of the core material 5that forms the vacuum heat insulating material 7.

FIG. 5 shows that the core material 5 is formed by folding andlaminating the organic fiber assembly 1 in a continuous sheet shapewithout cutting.

In FIG. 6, using continuous sheet-shaped first organic fiber assembly 1x without cutting and continuous sheet-shaped second organic fiberassembly 1 y without cutting (the both are sometimes called as “organicfiber assembly 1” as a whole), the both are alternatively arranged so asto mutually intersect (so that the folding direction of the firstorganic fiber assembly 1 x is almost orthogonal to the folding directionof the second organic fiber assembly 1 y). Within a range overlapped byrespective folded portions the first organic fiber assembly 1 x and thesecond organic fiber assembly 1 y are continuously laminated so thatthey are alternatively folded.

Namely, by continuously laminating the organic fiber assembly 1 withfolding, a time for cutting can be saved, it is possible to manufacturethe core material 5 efficiently in a short time with a low cost, andthus the low-cost vacuum heat insulating material 7 can be manufactured.

The organic fiber assembly 1 used here is manufactured by the abovemanufacturing method, so that the organic fibers 2 are orientated in thelong side direction (the length direction or the width direction), andthus the heat insulating performance is good. Further, as discussedabove, if the lamination is performed so that the sheet-shaped organicfiber assemblies 1 themselves (the first organic fiber assembly 1 x andthe second organic fiber assembly 1 y) intersect with each other, it ispossible to further improve the heat insulating performance since thecontact between the sheets becomes a point contact, which furtherimproves the heat insulating performance.

(Outer Cover Material)

For the outer cover material 4 (FIG. 4) of the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, a laminated film having the thickness of at least 5 μm andno more than 100 μm. In the present embodiment, for example, agas-barrier plastic laminated film structured by nylon (6 μm), aluminumevaporated PET (polyethylene telephthalate) (10 μm), aluminum foil (6μm), high-density polyethylene (50 μm) is used.

Other than the above, if the laminated file without including a aluminumfoil such as a structure of polypropylene, polyvinyl alcohol, andpolypropylene is used, it is possible to suppress the degradation of theheat insulating performance caused by heat bridge. Here, three sides outof four sides of the outer cover material 4 are heat-sealed by a sealpackaging machine. The remaining one side is heat-sealed after the corematerial 5 is inserted.

(Manufacturing Method of a Vacuum Heat Insulating Material 7)

As for manufacturing the vacuum heat insulating material 7, first, thecore material 5 having a predetermined size and thickness is insertedinto the outer cover material 4 which is a bag. The outer cover materialis fixed so as not to close an opening of the remaining one side(opening portion) 4 a, and dried in a constant temperature reservoir atthe temperature of about 105 degrees Celsius for a half day (about 12hours). Then, in order to sorb remaining gas after vacuum packaging, outgas discharged over time from the core material 5, and permeated gasentering through a seal layer of the outer cover material 4, adsorptionagent 6 (gas adsorption agent or water adsorption agent, etc.) isinserted in a filmed bag (the outer cover material 4), and vacuuming isdone using Kashiwagi-type vacuum packaging machine (a product ofNucleopore Corporation; KT-650). The vacuuming is done until the degreeof vacuum in the chamber becomes about 1 to 10 Pa, the opening portion 4a of the filed bag is heat-sealed in the chamber, and a plate-shapedvacuum heat insulating material 7 is obtained.

(Heat Insulating Performance 1)

(Thickness of Fiber Assembly)

Here, as for effect of the thickness of the organic fiber assembly 1 tothe heat insulating performance, assuming that the vacuum heatinsulating material 7 in which the core material 5 formed by laminatingthe organic fiber assembly 1 is used is prepared as Embodiment examples1 to 4, comparison with Comparison example 1 (cottonlike core material)is done. The comparison result will be explained.

For Comparison example 1, using for the core material cottonlikepolyester having almost the same diameter as the fiber diameter (about15 μm) of Embodiment examples 1 to 4 using the organic fiber assembly 1of the present embodiment, the vacuum heat insulating material 7 ismanufactured in the above manufacturing method, that is, in the samemethod as Embodiment examples 1 to 4.

For the manufactured Embodiment examples 1 to 4 and Comparison example 1(all are the vacuum heat insulating materials 7), heat conductivitiesare measured using “Auto Λ HC-073 (EKO Instruments Co., Ltd.)” in atemperature difference between upper temperature of 37.7 degrees Celsiusand lower temperature of 10.0 degrees Celsius. Here, measurement is doneafter leaving the vacuum heat insulating material for about one daysince the vacuuming step is =Tied out until gas or water inside of theouter cover material is sorbed in the adsorption agent 6 and the heatconductivity of the vacuum heat insulating material (inside of the outercover material) is stabled.

Here, the thickness of one sheet of the organic fiber assembly 1 is avalue obtained by subtracting two times of the thickness of the outercover material 4 from the thickness of the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 and dividing by the number of laminated sheets.

Further, an average fiber diameter is an average value of measurementvalues at 100 points measured by the microscope. The result of divisionof the thickness of one sheet after vacuuming by the average fiberdiameter is shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1 thickness of one sheet/ average fiber diameter Embodimentexample 1 4 Embodiment example 2 8 Embodiment example 3 14 Embodimentexample 4 18 Comparison example 1 369

FIG. 7 shows the first embodiment and is a correlation diagram forexplaining heat insulating performance of the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7. The horizontal axis of FIG. 7 is a numeral value obtained bydividing the thickness of the organic fiber assembly 1 by the averagefiber diameter, and the vertical axis is a heat insulating performanceratio. Here, the heat insulating performance ratio is a value obtainedby dividing the heat conductivity of Comparison example 1 by each of theheat conductivities of Embodiment examples 1 to 4 (the same as aninverse of a value obtained by dividing the heat conductivities ofEmbodiment examples 1 to 4 by the heat conductivity of Comparisonexample). Namely, the larger value of the heat insulating performanceratio shows better heat insulating performance.

From FIG. 7, when the thickness of the organic fiber assembly 1 is lessthan 18 times of the average fiber diameter (“heat insulatingperformance ratio” in the figure corresponds to about 1 [thickness offiber assembly/average fiber diameter]), the heat insulating performanceis improved compared with Comparison example 1 using the cottonlikefiber for the core material. It is considered that this is because thesmaller the thickness of the organic fiber assembly 1 is, the easier thefiber is orientated in the plane direction (the length or widthdirection of the sheet-shaped organic fiber assembly 1) which is almostorthogonal to the heat insulating direction (the thickness direction ofthe sheet-shaped fiber assembly), that is, a solid heat transfer passagewithin the vacuum heat insulating material 7 in the heat insulatingdirection can be made long, and thus the heat insulating performance isimproved.

Further, the closer the thickness of the organic fiber assembly 1becomes to one time of an average fiber diameter, the better the heatinsulating performance becomes. Therefore, it is preferable that thethickness of the organic fiber assembly 1 is one to eighteen times ofthe average fiber diameter.

Here, if the thickness of the organic fiber assembly 1 is no more thaneight times of the fiber diameter, the heat insulating performance israpidly (extremely) improved. Therefore, the thickness of the organicfiber assembly 1 is preferably one to eight times of the average fiberdiameter. Here, it is understood that the smaller the average fiberdiameter is compared with the thickness of the organic fiber assembly 1,the further the heat insulating performance is improved. However, sinceif the thickness of the organic fiber assembly 1 is one time of theaverage fiber diameter, the manufacturing becomes difficult, the averagefiber diameter is preferably at least three times of the thickness ofthe organic fiber assembly 1.

Here, if the thickness of the organic fiber assembly 1 is less thanthree times of the average fiber diameter, the productivity of theorganic fiber assembly 1 is degraded, the line speed of themanufacturing has to be extremely lowered, and the production efficiencybecomes extremely degraded. Thus, the thickness of the organic fiberassembly 1 is preferably equal to or greater than three times of theaverage fiber diameter.

From the above, if the organic fiber assembly 1 manufactured so that thethickness is made at least one time and no more than eighteen times ofthe average fiber diameter is used for the core material 5 of the vacuumheat insulating material 7, the heat insulating performance is improvedcompared with the case in which cottonlike fiber is used for the corematerial.

In particular, if the organic fiber assembly 1 manufactured so that thethickness is made at least one time and no more than eight times of theaverage fiber diameter is used for the core material 5 of the vacuumheat insulating material 7, the heat insulating performance is furtherimproved.

Further, if the organic fiber assembly 1 manufactured so that thethickness is made at least three times and no more than eighteen times(preferably, at least three times and no more than eight times of theaverage fiber diameter) of the average fiber diameter is used for thecore material 5 of the vacuum heat insulating material 7, in addition tothe effect of the improvement of heat insulating performance, themanufacturability is improved, and the manufacturing cost can bereduced; that is, the vacuum heat insulating material 7 with highperformance and high reliability can be obtained with a low cost.

(Heat Insulating Performance 2)

(Fiber Diameter and Inter-Fiber Distance)

The following will explain effect of a diameter of the organic fibers 2and an inter-fiber distance to the heat insulating performance.

FIG. 8 shows the first embodiment, and is a schematic view extendedlyshowing a structure of vertical cross section of the core material 5used for the vacuum heat insulating material 7. With reference to FIG.8, a structure of the core material 5 will be explained in detail. Asshown in FIG. 8, the core material 5 is structured by laminating eachlayer of the organic fiber assembly 1 with making each layer orientatedin one direction so that fibers may not be overlapped in the thicknessdirection of the sheet-shaped non-woven cloth and further each layer tobe vertically laminated is overlaid so that fibers of layers intersectalmost orthogonally.

Specifically, the core material 5 is formed by laminating the organicfiber assembly 1, in which spun fibers orientated to one direction so asnot to be overlapped among fibers, so that the fiber directions may bealmost orthogonally intersected with each other. Here, it is assumedthat an average fiber diameter is d and an average fiber interval (anaverage inter-fiber distance; an interval between fibers) is P.

Each layer of the organic fiber assembly 1 can be manufactured bystretching the film so as to make molecules orientated and thensplitting into pieces. If this method is used at the time of splittingthe film, it is possible to partially leave the connection part betweenfibers without completely separating the fibers. The organic fiberassembly 1 can be manufactured by stretching the torn sheet in adirection which is almost orthogonal to the fiber direction so as tomaintain the interval P between fibers. Thereby the usability of thecore material 5 is improved. Here, polyester, etc., for example, can beused for material of the fiber which forms the organic fiber assembly 1.

Next, the obtained core material 5 is inserted to the outer covermaterial 4 which is a plastic laminated film. Then, the outer covermaterial 4 to which the core material 5 is inserted is dried for aboutfive hours at the temperature of 100 degrees Celsius. After this, aboutfive (g) of CaO (the adsorption agent 6) enveloped in a non-woven clothbag is arranged inside the outer cover material 4, and then, the outercover material 4 in which the core material 5 and the adsorption agent 6are included is set inside the vacuum chamber. Subsequently, the outercover material 4 is vacuumed to around 3 Pa inside the vacuum chamber,the opening portion is heat-sealed inside the vacuum chamber, and thevacuum heat insulating material 7 which is a vacuum heat insulatingpanel is completed.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show the first embodiment; FIG. 9 shows measured resultof heat conductivity of the vacuum heat insulating material 7, and FIG.10 is a graphed chart of the measured result shown in FIG. 9. Withreference to FIGS. 9 and 10, the measurement result of the heatconductivity, which is carried out as heat insulating performanceevaluation of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 obtained in theabove method, will be explained.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show relation between the average fiber interval (P)/theaverage film diameter (d) of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 andheat conductivity [W/mK] in each layer. Here, FIG. 9 also shows heatconductivity of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 when cottonlikefiber (polyester fiber, for example) is used for the core material 5 asa comparison example. Further, in FIG. 10, a horizontal axis shows theaverage fiber interval/the average film diameter (P/d), and a verticalaxis shows the heat conductivity [W/mK].

From the measured result shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, when the average fiberinterval (P) is within a range of 2.5 to 8.5 times of the average fiberdiameter (d) (a range of P/d is at least 2.5 times and no more than 8.5times), the heat conductivity of the vacuum heat insulating material 7according to the first embodiment is smaller than 0.0030 [W/mK] of thevacuum heat insulating material 7 in case of the comparison exampleusing cottonlike core material. Namely, it can be understood the vacuumheat insulating material 7 according to the first embodiment is superiorin the heat insulating performance.

This is because of the following: The vacuum heat insulating material 7of the comparison example using the cottonlike fiber for the corematerial 5 includes a part in which fibers are orientated in thethickness direction which is the heat transfer direction (the heatinsulating direction) due to the irregularity of arrangement of fibers.Heat is transferred through the part in which fibers are orientated inthe thickness direction and leaked, which degrades the heat insulatingperformance. On the contrary to this, the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 according to the first embodiment does not transfer heat inthe thickness direction which is the heat transfer direction excepttransferring heat by a point contact through a contacting point withanother fiber, so that it is possible to obtain an effect of contactthermal resistance.

In the vacuum heat insulating material 7 according to the presentembodiment, leakage of heat in the thickness direction which is the heattransfer direction is low, and accordingly, solid heat transfer throughthe core material 5 can be reduced. Therefore, the vacuum heatinsulating material 7 according to the present embodiment can reduce theheat conductivity, that is, the heat insulating performance is improved.

On the other hand, when the average fiber interval (P) is smaller than2.5 times of the average fiber diameter (d) (when P/d is less than 2.5times), the smaller the average fiber interval (P) is, the larger theheat conductivity of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 according tothe first embodiment rapidly grows, that is, the heat insulatingperformance is rapidly degraded, compared with the comparison exampleusing the cottonlike fiber for the core material 5.

It is considered that this is because the fibers of the vacuum heatinsulating material 7 according to the first embodiment becomes thickcompared with the comparison example using the cottonlike fiber for thecore material 5, the heat transfer passage is shortened, and further,solid volume fraction in the vacuum heat insulating material 7 israised.

Here, if the average fiber interval (P) is made large, namely, is madeat least 2.5 times of the average fiber diameter (d) (P/d is at least2.5 times), the solid volume fraction in the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 can be reduced, and further, the heat transfer distance canbe made long, which gradually reduces the heat conductivity. The abovecan be understood from this hypothesis.

Further, in a range in which the average fiber interval (P) is 4 to 7times of the average fiber diameter (d) (P/d is at least 4 and no morethan 7), the heat conductivity stays almost unchanged to be around0.0020 [W/mK]. Since the heat conductivity becomes almost the same asaround 0.0020 [W/mK] which is the heat conductivity of conventionalgeneral vacuum heat insulating material 7 using glass fiber for the corematerial 5, the vacuum heat insulating material 7 according to thepresent embodiment can present excellent heat insulating performance.From the point at which the average fiber interval (P) exceeds 7 timesof the average fiber diameter (d) (when P/d is larger than 7 times), theheat conductivity grows rapidly. Namely, it can be understood that theheat transfer performance becomes rapidly degraded. It is estimated thatthis is because, as the average fiber interval (P) is made larger,deflection of fiber, which is supported by the contacting point betweenfibers, becomes large, and the fibers are orientated in the thicknessdirection, and thus contact of fibers occurs between fibers ofrespective layers.

From the above explanation, as for the vacuum heat insulating material 7according to the first embodiment, when the average fiber interval (P)is within a range of 2.5 to 8.5 times of the average fiber diameter (d)(a range of P/d is at least 2.5 and no more than 8.5 times), the heatconductivity becomes smaller than 0.0030 [W/mK] which is the heatconductivity of the conventional vacuum heat insulating material 7 usingcottonlike core material, namely, the heat insulating performance issuperior.

Further, if the vacuum heat insulating material 7 according to the firstembodiment is used in a range in which the average fiber interval (P) is4 to 7 times of the average fiber diameter (d) (P/d is at least 4 and nomore than 7 times), the heat conductivity becomes almost the same as0.0020 [W/mK] which is the heat conductivity of the conventional generalvacuum heat insulating material 7 using the glass fiber for the corematerial 5; that is, the vacuum heat insulating material 7 according tothe first embodiment can present excellent heat insulating performance.

Therefore, it is possible to obtain the vacuum heat insulating material7 having excellent heat insulating performance if the average fiberinterval (P) is set at least 2.5 and no more than 8.5 times of theaverage fiber diameter (d). Preferably, when the average fiber interval(P) is set at least 4 and less than 7, it can be expected that the heatinsulating performance is further improved.

(Heat Insulating Performance 3)

(Influence of Heat Deposition)

Next, influence of fabric weight to the heat insulating performance willbe explained when the organic fiber assembly 1 is used for the corematerial 5, and the organic fiber assembly 1 is unwoven cloth to whichheat deposition is applied by an embossing 110.

As discussed above, as for long-fibered non-woven cloth which is theorganic fiber assembly 1, continuous fiber melted by the extruder andextruded from the spinning nozzle is collected on the conveyer, theconveyer is lead at an arbitrary speed, and the embossing 110 is carriedout by the heat roller with forming, for example, a dotted heatdeposited portion. Thereby the fibers which form the sheet become hardto unravel or reveal, so that the handlability of the non-woven clothsheet is improved, and the reelable long-fibered non-woven cloth can beobtained with maintaining the handling strength.

FIG. 11 shows the first embodiment and is a cross sectional view ofnon-woven cloth which is the organic fiber assembly 1 of the vacuum heatinsulating material 7. In FIG. 11, on the sheet-shaped organic fiberassembly 1, the embossing 110 is provided appropriately and isheat-deposited. In this figure, the embossing 110 is formed bypenetrating from the surface of the sheet-shaped organic fiber assembly1 to the rear surface (penetrating in the thickness direction of thesheet).

In the heat deposition step by the embossing 110, long-fibered non-wovencloth which is the organic fiber assembly 1 can be manufactured bychanging the fabric weight (fabric weight per unit area) with adjustingmanufacturing condition such as the speed of the collecting conveyer sothat the heat deposited portion penetrates through from the surface tothe rear surface, namely, in the thickness direction. Here, theembossing 110 needs to have a size (a diameter in case of an almostcircular shape; a length of one side in case of a polygonal shape) of atleast about 0.3 mm in order that the heat deposition is securely done tothe sheet. Further, in order not to degrade the heat insulatingperformance due to the heat transfer through the embossing 110, it ispreferable that the size of the embossing 110 is no more than about 5 mm

For example, it is preferable to set the diameter of at least 0.3 mm andno more than around 5 mm if the embossing 110 is circular, or ifpolygonal, set one side of at least 0.3 mm and no more than around 5 mm;preferably, it should be at least 0.5 mm and no more than 1.5 mm.

In the present embodiment, by setting the embossing 110 to be almostcircular and to have a diameter of around 0.5 to 1 mm, the heatinsulating performance is improved, and the heat deposition is securelydone. A rate occupied by the embossing 110 in the sheet is made around8% which does not degrade the heat insulating performance so much.Further, as for the measurement of the average fiber diameter, someportions to some hundreds portions (10 portions, for example) aremeasured by a micro-scope, and an average can be used. Further, thefabric weight (weight (g) of the fiber per 1 m²) can be obtained bymeasuring the area and the weight of one sheet and obtaining the weightper unit area of one sheet.

Next, 300 sheets of the obtained non-woven clothes are laminated to formthe core material 5, inserted into the outer cover material 4 which isan aluminum foil laminated film, and dried at about 100 degrees Celsiusfor about five hours. After dried, inside of the outer cover material 4containing the core material 5, the adsorption agent 6 such as wateradsorption (CaO) 5 g or gas adsorption included in a bag having a goodventilation is provided, and the dried assembly is set inside of achamber type vacuum packaging machine and vacuumed. The vacuuming isdone until the inside of the chamber is 3 Pa, the opening portion isheat-sealed inside of the vacuum chamber, and the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 is produced as the vacuum heat insulating panel.

Graphs in FIGS. 12 and 13 show the measured result of the heatconductivity of the obtained vacuum heat insulating material. FIGS. 12and 13 show the first embodiment; FIG. 12 shows correlation between thefabric weight of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 and the heatconductivity, and FIG. 13 shows correlation between the fabric weight ofthe vacuum heat insulating material 7 and the heat conductivity.

In each of FIGS. 12 and 13, the vertical axis shows the heatconductivity [W/mK] and the horizontal axis shows the fabric weight[g/m²]. Normally, the fabric weight is represented by the fabric weight[g/m²] showing the weight of fiber per 1 m². Further, in order tocompare with other material of which a specific gravity of fibermaterial is different, the relation can be represented by a fabricvolume [cc/m²] showing the volume (cc) occupied by fiber per 1 m². Here,in case of showing by the fabric volume [cc/m²], the volume of fiber canbe obtained by measuring the weight and converting the result by aspecific gravity (in case of PET, the self-weight is 1.34).

FIG. 12 shows relation between the fabric weight and the heatconductivity when the organic fibers of Embodiment examples 5 to 8 areused for the core material 5 shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2 average fiber fiber fiber length diameter (μm) weight (g/m²)Embodiment example 5 long fiber 13 13 Embodiment example 6 ↑ ↑ 26Embodiment example 7 ↑ ↑ 51 Embodiment example 8 ↑ ↑ 98

From FIG. 12, 0.003 [W/mK] which is the heat conductivity of the vacuumheat insulating material 7 when the fabric weight is no more than 70[g/m²] and the conventional cottonlike core material 5 is used becomesequivalent to the heat conductivity of the case in which the organicfiber assembly 1 of the present embodiment is used for the core material5. Therefore, if the fabric weight is no more than 70 [g/m²], the heatconductivity of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 related to thefirst embodiment can be made smaller than 0.003 [W/mK] which is the heatconductivity of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 when theconventional cottonlike core material 5 is used; that is, it isunderstood that the heat insulating performance is improved.

This is considered that by reducing the fabric weight, the ratiooccupied by fibers is reduced, the thickness of the non-woven clothbecomes thin, and thus the fibers within the non-woven cloth tend to beorientated in the direction of plane (the length direction or the widthdirection) which is almost orthogonal direction with the heat insulatingdirection. Accordingly, the fibers are hard to be orientated in thethickness direction (the heat insulating direction), which suppressesthe heat conduction in the thickness direction of fibers. Therefore, inthe present embodiment, within a range of being less than 0.003 [W/mK]which is the heat conductivity in case of the cottonlike core material,the upper limit of the fabric weight is 70 [g/m²] (no more than), withconsidering variation of manufacturing. Consequently, it is possible toobtain the vacuum heat insulating material 7 which does not degrade theheat insulating performance, is easy to manufacture, and has a goodrecyclability.

It is considered that in case of the fabric weight exceeding 70 [g/m²],the orientation direction of the fibers is easily directed in thethickness direction which is the heat insulating direction, and the heatdeposited portion of the embossing 110 works as the heat transferpassage in the thickness direction, effect of the heat deposited portionof the embossing 110 is increased, and thus the heat insulatingperformance was degraded.

Here, from FIG. 12, when the fabric weight exceeds 26 [g/m²], the heatconductivity becomes suddenly larger than around 0.002 [W/mK], so thatthe fabric weight is desired to be no more than 26 [g/m²]. If the fabricweight is made at least 26 [g/m2], the heat conductivity is made no morethan around 0.002 [W/mK] which is the heat conductivity of theconventional general vacuum heat insulating material 7 in which theglass fiber is used for the core material 5, and thus it is possible toobtain the vacuum heat insulating material 7 with high heat insulatingperformance.

Here, it is considered that the less the fabric weight is, the more thefibers in the non-woven cloth are easily orientated in the planedirection (the length direction or the width direction), and further theeffect of the heat deposited portion can be reduced. However, if thefabric weight is lowered too much, the manufacturing becomes hard, andas well the strength is decreased due to the degradation, etc. of theevenness of the non-woven cloth, the non-woven cloth of which the fabricweight is less than 4.7 [g/m²] cannot be reeled as the non-woven cloth,and there occurs a case that fibers may be torn halfway.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, if the embossing 110 is applied onthe vacuum heat insulating material 7, the fabric weight is made atleast 4.7 [g/m²] and no more than 70 [g/m²] which is the reelable limitof the non-woven cloth, it is possible to obtain the vacuum heatinsulating material 7 with high heat insulating performance having thecore material 5 with a good usability. Preferably, if the fabric weightis made at least 4.7 [g/m²] and no more than 26 [g/m²], it can beexpected that the heat insulating performance is further improved.

Therefore, as for a heat insulating box or a heat insulating wall usingthe vacuum heat insulating material 7 having a small heat conductivityand high heat insulating performance as explained in the presentembodiment, it is possible to make the thickness of the box or the wallthinner due to the good heat insulating performance. Thus, compared withthe conventional heat insulating box having the same externalappearance, the internal volume can be enlarged, and thus it is possibleto supply equipments such as a refrigerator with a large capacity.Further, if the internal volume is made the same as the conventionalone, the external appearance can be downsized, and thus it is possibleto obtain equipments such as a small compact refrigerator.

Here, FIG. 13 shows a correlation between the fabric weight and the heatconductivity of Embodiment example 5 to Embodiment example 9 shown inTable 3 when the organic fibers 2 is used for the core material 5.

TABLE 3 average fiber fiber fiber length diameter (μm) weight (g/m²)Embodiment example 5 long fiber 13 13 Embodiment example 6 ↑ ↑ 26Embodiment example 7 ↑ ↑ 51 Embodiment example 8 ↑ ↑ 98 Embodimentexample 9 ↑ ↑ 198 Comparison example 2 short fiber ↑ 203

In FIG. 13, the horizontal axis shows the fabric weight and the verticalaxis shows the heat conductivity. From FIG. 13, when the fabric weightis no more than 70 [g/m²] and at least 140 [g/m²], the heat conductivitybecomes smaller than 0.0030 [W/mK] which is the heat conductivity of theconventional one having the cottonlike core material, and thus the heatinsulating performance is improved.

Here, the more the fabric weight is greater than 140 [g/m²] which is thepredetermined value, the smaller the heat conductivity becomes, and theheat insulating performance is improved. It is considered that the aboveis because continuous long fibers are used, and thus it is easy to makethe fibers orientated at the time of manufacturing in the orthogonaldirection to the heat transfer direction (the sheet reeling direction,the length direction or the width direction of the sheet).

Further, if the fabric weight is raised, the thickness per sheet becomesthicker, so that the sheet becomes hard to be folded at the time oflamination due to the thickness of the sheet, and thus the fibers becomeeasy to be orientated in the orthogonal direction to the heat transferdirection (the sheet reeling direction, the length direction or thewidth direction of the sheet). Consequently, it is considered that theheat conductivity in the heat transfer direction becomes small, and theheat insulating performance is improved.

On the contrary, the more the fabric weight is less than 70 [g/m²] whichis the predetermined value, the more the heat insulating performance isimproved. It is considered that the above is because the thickness persheet becomes smaller, so that the fibers become hard to be orientatedin the heat transfer direction (the thickness direction), and thus thefibers become easy to be orientated in the orthogonal direction to theheat transfer direction (the sheet reeling direction, the lengthdirection or the width direction of sheet), the heat conductivity in theheat transfer direction becomes small, and the effect of improving theheat insulating performance becomes large.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, if the embossing 110 is applied tothe vacuum heat insulating material 7, the fabric weight of thenon-woven cloth is made to be at least 4.7 [g/m²], which is the reelablelimit of the non-woven cloth, and no more than 70 [g/m²], it is possibleto obtain the vacuum heat insulating material 7 the usability of thecore material of which is good and the heat insulating performance ishigh. Preferably, if the fabric weight is made at least 4.7 [g/m²] andno more than 26 [g/m²], it is expected that the heat insulatingperformance is further improved. Further, if the fabric weight of thenon-woven cloth is made at least 140 [g/m²] and no more than 198 [g/m²],it is possible to obtain the vacuum heat insulating material 7, theusability of the core material 5 of which is good and the heatinsulating performance is high. The fabric weight is no more than 198[g/m²], because this value is the measurement result of Embodimentexample 9 shown in Table 3, and to this point, it is confirmed that theheat insulating performance is surely good compared with theconventional case using the cottonlike core material.

Therefore, as for a heat insulating box or a heat insulating wall usingthe vacuum heat insulating material 7 having a small heat conductivityand high heat insulating performance as explained in the presentembodiment, it is possible to make the thickness of the box or the wallthinner due to the good heat insulating performance. Accordingly,compared with the conventional heat insulating box having the sameexternal appearance, the internal volume can be enlarged, and thus it ispossible to supply equipments such as a refrigerator with a largecapacity. Further, if the internal volume is made the same as theconventional one, the external appearance can be downsized, and thus itis possible to obtain equipments such as a small compact refrigerator.

(Heat Insulating Performance 4)

(Long Fiber, Short Fiber)

Here, to demonstrate that the use of continuous long fibers improves theheat insulating performance when the fabric weight is at least 140[g/m²], the vacuum heat insulating material 7 having the short-fiberedcore material 5 made by the specification as Comparison example 2 isgenerated and compared. Here, the organic fibers 2 used for the corematerial 5 of Comparison example 2 is short fiber having a fiber lengthof around 5 to 7 mm which is longer than the thickness of one sheet andno more than the thickness (around 5 mm to 10 mm) of the laminatedsheet.

From Table 3, as a result of comparing Embodiment example 9 of longfibers and Comparison example 2 using short fibers, both of which thefabric weight are the same, it is found that the heat insulatingperformance of the heat conductivity (0.0025 [W/mK]) of Embodimentexample 9 in which the long-fibered organic fiber assembly 1 is used forthe core material 5 is about 1.8 times as better as the heatconductivity (0.0045 [W/mK]) of Comparison example 2 in which theshort-fibered organic fiber assembly 1 is used for the core material 5.Therefore, it is found that using the long fibers improves the heatconductivity when the fabric weight is 140 [g/m²]. In this case, sincethe fabric weight is high, manufacturing is easy, the speed of themanufacturing line can be increased, and thus the production efficiencyis improved.

Here, in the present embodiment, as the long fibers, fibers having thecontinuous fiber length being at least the shortest length of the sheetsuch as the width direction are used, and thus the heat insulatingperformance can be improved more than the case in which the short fibershaving the fiber length being shorter than the shortest length of thesheet such as the width direction are used. Further, as for the fiberlength, the continuous long fibers are preferable. During themanufacturing process of the organic fiber assembly 1, it is consideredthat fibers may be torn halfway. Further, it is also considered thatshort fibers, having the fiber length being not continuous exceeding theshortest length of the sheet such as the width direction, may be mixed.In the present embodiment, if the fibers having the continuous fiberlength are included at an occupied rate of at least 50% in the sheet,the heat insulating performance is improved. Consequently, in thepresent embodiment, the organic fiber assembly 1 formed by the longfibers, of which the fiber length is continuous exceeding the shortestlength of the sheet in the length direction or the width direction,etc., of which the occupied rate is at least 50% (preferably, at least70%) in the sheet is used.

It is considered when the short fibers are used such as in Comparisonexample 2, since the fiber length is short, the fibers are easy toslant, according to the increase of the fabric weight (the increase ofthe thickness of the sheet), the fibers are easily orientated in theheat transfer direction, and thus the heat insulating performance isdegraded.

On the contrary, if the fiber length of the organic fiber assembly 1 islong, the fibers tend to be orientated in the plane direction (thereeling direction, the length direction, or the width direction) whichis almost orthogonal to the heat insulating direction (the thicknessdirection). That is, a passage for solid heat transfer within the vacuumheat insulating material 7 in the heat insulating direction (thethickness direction) can be long, and thus the heat insulatingperformance is improved. Further, since the sheet is thick because ofthe high fabric weight, the sheet is hard to be folded at the time oflamination, and thus it becomes easy to make the fibers orientated inthe direction (the reeling direction of the sheet, the length directionor the width direction of the sheet) orthogonal to the heat transferdirection. It is considered because of the above, the heat conductivityin the heat transfer direction is reduced, and the heat insulatingperformance can be improved. Consequently, the heat insulatingperformance of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 in which theorganic fiber assembly 1 formed by the organic fibers 2 being continuousin the length direction is used for the core material 5 is moreexcellent than the case of using the short fibers for the core material5.

(Heat Insulating Performance 5)

(Heat Deposition Penetration, Non-Penetration)

Next, the result of comparison, which is conducted between a case inwhich the embossing 110 penetrates in the thickness direction and a casein which the embossing 110 does not penetrate, will be explained. It hasbeen explained that in the above vacuum heat insulating material 7, whenthe embossing 110 penetrates, the heat insulating performance can beimproved by lowering the fabric weight (no more than 70 [g/m²],preferably no more than 26 [g/m²]). Here, it is confirmed whether theheat insulating performance is changed or not between the case in whichthe embossing 110 penetrates in the thickness direction of one sheet andthe case in which the embossing 110 does not penetrate in the thicknessdirection of the sheet (when the emboss is provided only on the frontand rear surfaces).

Then, so as not to make the heat deposited portion of the embossing 110penetrate in the thickness direction, non-woven cloth (the organic fiberassembly 1) is generated with changing the fabric weight by adjustingthe temperature of the heat roller and the clearance of the heatrollers. Here, the temperature of the heat roller is set to 180 degreesCelsius, and the clearance between the heat rollers is set to ½ of thethickness of the non-woven cloth before heat deposition is applied.

FIG. 14 shows the first embodiment, and is a cross sectional view of thenon-woven cloth which is the organic fiber assembly 1 of the vacuum heatinsulating material 7. In FIG. 14, for the sheet-shaped organic fiberassembly 1, the embossing 110 is provided by the heat deposition only onthe surfaces (the front surface and the rear surface) withoutpenetrating in the thickness direction. Here, “the surface (the frontsurface and the rear surface)” means “at least one surface of the frontsurface and the rear surface”.

The obtained non-woven cloth (the organic fiber assembly 1) ismanufactured into the vacuum heat insulating material 7 in the samemanner as the above explanation. Then, the heat insulating performanceis compared between the vacuum heat insulating material of which theheat deposited portion of the embossing 110 does not penetrate in thethickness direction (not provided continuously in the thicknessdirection) and the vacuum heat insulating material of which the heatdeposited portion of the embossing 110 penetrates (provided continuouslyin the thickness direction) (Comparison example). Here, the non-wovencloth to which the embossing 110 is applied is manufactured to have thesame size and the same number of portions of the embossing 110 providedin the same dimension.

The obtained evaluation results of the heat insulating performance ofthe vacuum heat insulating material 7 is shown in a graph of FIG. 15.FIG. 15 shows the first embodiment and is a diagram showing relationbetween the fabric weight and the heat conductivity of the vacuum heatinsulating material 7. In FIG. 15, similarly to the above discussed FIG.12, the vertical axis is the heat conductivity [W/mK] and the horizontalaxis is the fabric weight [g/m²]. In FIG. 15, a solid line shows thecase of the embossing 110 penetrating (the case shown by the solid linein FIG. 12). Further, a broken line shows the case in which theembossing 110 does not penetrate in the thickness direction of one sheet(only on the face surface).

Here, in FIG. 15, when the heat deposited portion of the embossing 110penetrates in the thickness direction of the organic fiber assembly 1,from a point at which the fabric weight exceeds about 26 [g/m²], theheat conductivity suddenly increases, and the heat insulatingperformance begins to be degraded. If the fabric weight exceeds about 70[g/m²], the heat conductivity exceeds 0.003 [W/mK] which is the heatconductivity of the conventional case using the cottonlike corematerial, and the heat insulating performance is extremely degraded.However, if the heat deposition portion of the embossing 110 is formedso as not to penetrate in the thickness of the non-woven cloth, up toabout 50 [g/m²] of the fabric weight, the heat conductivity is almostfixed and the heat insulating performance is good. In the case shown bythe broken line in which the heat deposited portion of the embossing 110does not penetrate in the thickness direction of the non-woven cloth 1,when the fabric weight exceeds around 50 [g/m²], the heat conductivitysuddenly increases. Until the fabric weight is up to about 100 [g/m²](the heat conductivity is about 0.0028 [W/mK]), the case does not exceed0.003 [W/mK] which is the heat conductivity of the core material ofcottonlike fiber, so that it is possible to obtain the vacuum heatinsulating material 7 of which the heat insulating performance is moreexcellent than the conventional cottonlike fiber.

From the above, when the heat deposited portion of the embossing 110does not penetrate in the thickness direction of the sheet shapednon-woven cloth, by making the fabric weight to be at least about 4.7[g/m²] and no more than about 100 [g/m²], it is possible to suppress theheat conductivity to no more than 0.003 [W/mK] which is the heatconductivity of the conventional case using the cottonlike corematerial. Consequently, it is possible to obtain the non-woven cloth andthe vacuum heat insulating material 7, which secure necessary heatinsulating performance, are easy to manufacture, and have a goodrecyclability, and equipments using the heat insulating material 7 suchas the refrigerator, the water heater, the jar pot, etc. Here, if thefabric weight is set at least about 4.7 [g/m²] and no more than about 50[g/m²], the heat conductivity can be equivalent to 0.002 [W/mK] which isthe heat conductivity of the conventional general vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7. Therefore, it is possible to obtain the non-woven cloth, thevacuum heat insulating material 7 of which the heat insulatingperformance is good, is highly efficient and easy to manufacture, andalso has a good recylability, and the equipments using the heatinsulating box or the vacuum heat insulating material 7 such as therefrigerator, the water heater, the jar pot, etc.

Further, when the heat deposited portion of the embossing 110 penetratesin the thickness direction of the sheet-shaped non-woven cloth, bymaking the fabric weight to be at least about 4.7 [g/m²] and no morethan about 70 [g/m²], it is possible to suppress the heat conductivityto no more than 0.003 [W/mK] which is the heat conductivity of theconventional case using the cottonlike core material. Consequently, itis possible to obtain the non-woven cloth and the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, which secure necessary heat insulating performance, are easyto manufacture and have a good recyclability, and equipments using theheat insulating box, the vacuum heat insulating material 7 such as therefrigerator, the water heater, the jar pot, etc. Here, if the fabricweight is set at least about 4.7 [g/m²] and no more than about 26[g/m²], the heat conductivity can be the equivalent to 0.002 [W/mK]which is the heat conductivity of the conventional general vacuum heatinsulating material 7 using the glass fibers as the core material.Therefore, it is possible to obtain the non-woven cloth, the vacuum heatinsulating material of which the heat insulating performance is moreexcellent, which is highly efficient and easy to manufacture, and alsohas a good recylability, and the equipments such as the refrigerator,the water heater, the jar pot, etc. using the heat insulating box or thevacuum heat insulating material 7.

Further, when the heat deposited portion of the embossing 110 penetratesin the thickness direction of the sheet-shaped non-woven cloth and whenthe heat deposited portion does not penetrate, by increasing the fabricweight within the above range of the fabric weight, it is possible toincrease the thickness of one non-woven cloth sheet. Due to this, it ispossible to reduce the number of laminated sheets of non-woven clothwhich is the organic fiber assembly 1 for obtaining the vacuum heatinsulating material 7 with the desired thickness (the predeterminednecessary thickness), and thus the productivity is improved.

Here, within a range of at least 4.7 [g/m²] and no more than 26 [g/m²],a difference is small between the case where the heat deposited portionof the embossing 110 penetrates in the thick direction of thesheet-shaped organic fiber assembly 1 and the case where the heatdeposited portion does not penetrate. Accordingly, if no problem occursin the productivity, by using the non-woven cloth with low fabricweight, there hardly occurs a difference regardless whether the heatdeposited portion of the embossing 110 penetrates in the thicknessdirection of the sheet-shaped non-woven cloth or not, that is, the heatinsulating performance is good. Therefore, if no problem occurs in theproductivity, the fabric weight should be made within as small range aspossible such as at least 4.7 [g/m²] and no more than 26 [g/m²], thusthe degree of freedom of the embossing 110 is increased, and the heatinsulating performance becomes also good.

Here, if the productivity is considered, the fabric weight should be aslarge as possible. In this case, the heat deposited portion of theembossing 110 is made not to penetrate in the thickness direction of thesheet-shaped non-woven cloth, and with considering the manufacturingvariation, etc., the range of the fabric weight should be made at leastabout 4.7 [g/m²] and no more than 100 [g/m²] so as to be smaller thanabout 0.003 [W/mK] which is the heat conductivity of the cottonlike corematerial.

Further, when the vacuum heat insulating material 7 of the presentembodiment of which the heat conductivity is small and the heatinsulating performance is high is used, the thickness of the heatinsulating box or the heat insulating wall can be made thin due to thegood heat insulating performance

Therefore, compared with the conventional heat insulating box with thesame external appearance, the internal volume can be enlarged, and thusit is possible to provide equipments such as a refrigerator with a largecapacity. Further, if the internal volume is made the same as theconventional one, the external appearance can be downsized, and thus itis possible to provide equipments such as a small and compactrefrigerator.

Here, in order to provide the heat deposited portion of the emboss, etc.with a hole penetrating in the thickness direction, if the hole (athrough hole, for example) formation process is done by laserprocessing, etc., the substantial size of the heat deposited portion(heat conduction area) is reduced by the space for forming the hole, theheat transfer through the heat deposited portion can be reduced, andthus the heat insulating performance can be improved. By forming thethrough hole being smaller than the size of the heat deposited portionapplied on the sheet, the heat insulating performance is improvedcompared with the case where the heat deposited portion has no holeformation. For example, when the size of the heat deposited portion isan almost circle having the diameter of about 2 mm, the size of thethrough hole should be the diameter of about 1 mm. Since the throughhole is smaller than the size of the heat deposited portion, thedeposited status of the organic fibers 2 which forms the organic fiberassembly 1 can be maintained, and thus the usability of the sheet ismaintained to be good.

Namely, by providing a through hole being small enough to maintain thedeposited status (so that the heat deposition can be maintained) of theorganic fibers 2 which form the sheet being the organic fiber assemblyat the heat deposition such as the embossing applied in the thicknessdirection of the sheet, while maintaining the usability and theproductivity of the sheet good, further it is possible to obtain thevacuum heat insulating material which can improve the heat insulatingperformance. Regardless the heat deposited portion such as the embossingpenetrate or does not penetrate in the thickness direction of the sheet,the heat insulating performance can be improved by providing the holeformation at the heat deposited portion. Further, as for the holeformation, it is not limited to the through hole but a concave portionformation that can obtain the effect of the heat insulating performanceimprovement. Accordingly, by providing the through hole or the concaveportion which is smaller than the heat deposited portion and canmaintain the heat deposition of the organic fiber assembly at the heatdeposited portion in the thickness direction of the sheet, while theusability of the sheet and the productivity are kept good, further it ispossible to obtain the vacuum heat insulating material which can improvethe heat insulating performance.

(Heat Insulating Performance 6)

(Without Heat Deposition)

Here, from the usability problem of the core material 5, after formingthe sheet of the organic fiber assembly 1, the heat deposition is oftenapplied to the organic fibers 2 x and the organic fibers 2 y by the heatroller, etc. (the embossing 110). When the embossing 110 is applied, asexplained above, the heat insulating performance is improved when thefabric weight is low; however, in case of the non-woven cloth with lowfabric weight, since the thickness of one sheet is thin, the number oflaminations should be large for obtaining the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 having the predetermined thickness. Accordingly, theproductivity is degraded such that the manufacturing line of thenon-woven cloth becomes delayed or the time required for the laminationstep becomes long, etc. Therefore, as for the organic fiber assembly 1related to the present embodiment, the heat insulating performance willbe explained hereinafter for the case where the heat deposition such asthe embossing 110, etc., is not applied. When the heat deposition suchas the embossing 110, etc. is not applied, since the heat transferpassage can be reduced, it is considered that the heat insulatingperformance is improved.

Here, when the heat deposition such as the embossing 110, etc. is notapplied to the organic fiber assembly 1, the long-fibered non-wovencloth which is the organic fiber assembly 1 is manufactured by thefollowing: the continuous fibers which are melted by the extruder andpushed off from the spinning nozzle, are collected on the conveyer, andreeled by feeding the conveyer at an arbitrary speed. The fiber densityof the organic fiber assembly 1 can be adjusted by the dischargingamount of the melted resin and the speed of the conveyer, and theorganic fiber assembly 1 having different thickness can be manufactured.

Then, the obtained organic fiber assembly 1 is cut out into, forexample, an A4 size, and the core material 5 is formed. The number oflamination can be set arbitrarily based on the thickness of the obtainedorganic fiber assembly 1 and the thickness of the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 to be manufactured. The heat insulating performance of theorganic fibers 2 is better when the fiber diameter is thinner.Theoretically, the fiber diameter is desired to be no more than 10 μm.Here, according to the thickness of the required core material 5, it isunnecessary to laminate the non-woven cloth sheet which is the organicfiber assembly 1, namely, the number of sheets can be one.

Next, effect to the heat insulating performance due to existence/absenceof the heat deposition of the organic fiber assembly 1 will beexplained. Here, the organic fibers 2 used here is polyester having thediameter of about 10 μm to 13 μm. Further, the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 is manufactured by the manufacturing step equivalent to theabove manufacturing method.

At this time, when manufacturing the non-woven cloth without heatdeposition, two samples “a” and “b” of the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, which are formed by the sheet-shaped organic fiber assembly1 made of the organic fibers 2 being continuous in the length directionand to which the heat deposition is not applied at the manufacturingstep, are manufactured. When manufacturing the non-woven cloth with heatdeposition for the comparison example, the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, which is formed by the sheet-shaped organic fiber assembly 1made of the organic fibers 2 being continuous in the length directionand to which the heat deposition is applied at the manufacturing step,is manufactured. Here, the core material 5 is formed without cutting outthe organic fiber assembly 1 but with maintaining the continuous sheetshape in the length direction.

Then, the heat conductivities of the organic fiber assembly 1 of samples“a” and “b”, and the comparison example which have been manufactured aremeasured using a heat conductivity tester “Auto Λ HC-073 (EKOInstruments Co., Ltd.)” at a temperature difference of the uppertemperature being 37.7 degrees Celsius and the lower temperature being10.0 degrees Celsius. Here, the measurement is done after carrying outthe vacuuming step, and keeping as it is for about one day until gasesor water within the outer cover material 4 is adsorbed by the adsorptionagent 6 and the heat conductivity becomes stable. Here, the averagefiber diameter is the average value of the measured values of 10 pointsat which the measurement is done using the microscope.

In this case, the heat insulating performance according to theexistence/absence of the heat deposited portion by the embossing 110 arecompared using the fabric weight [g/m²] which is the weight per unitweight.

The vacuum heat insulating material 7 without heat deposition by theembossing 110 is confirmed by the two samples having different fabricweights. The fabric weight of the sample using the long fibers withoutthe embossing 110 are about 70 [g/m²] in the sample “a” and about 924[g/m²] in the sample “b”. In both cases for the samples “a” and “b”, theheat conductivities are 0.0019 to 0.0020 [W/mK]. The heat insulatingperformance of the samples “a” and “b” are improved compared with thecase using the long fibers with the embossing 110 which are thecomparison examples (Embodiment examples 5 to 9, refer to FIG. 13).Accordingly, the heat insulating performance can be improved more in thecase without the heat deposition by the embossing 110 rather than thecase with the heat deposition by the embossing 110.

The reason for this is considered that there is no heat depositionbetween the organic fibers 2 themselves of the organic fiber assembly 1,the passage of heat may be shortened due to the absence of the heatdeposition. Here, in case of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 inwhich the long-fibered organic fibers 2 are used for the core material5, even if the fabric weight is extremely high such as 924 [g/m²], theheat conductivity is small and the heat insulating performance isimproved. Therefore, by increasing the fabric weight to make thethickness of one sheet of the sheet-shaped non-woven cloth thick, thenumber of lamination of the core material 5 can be reduced, theproduction speed can be increased, and further the productivity can beimproved.

From the above, the heat insulating performance becomes better when theheat deposition by the embossing 110 is not applied to the core material5 of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 and the vacuum heatinsulating material 7 is manufactured by the organic fiber assembly 1 inwhich the long fibers being continuous exceeding the length of the sheetare used for the core material 5. Obviously, it is needless to say, alsoin the case where the heat deposition by the embossing 110 is applied,the heat insulating performance becomes better than the case where theshort fibers are used for the core material 5 when the organic fiberassembly 1 is manufactured by the long fibers being continuous exceedingthe length of the sheet.

(Heat Insulating Performance 7)

(Cross-Sectional Shape of Fiber)

Next, the relation between the cross sectional shape of the organicfibers 2 and the heat insulating performance will be explained. Thecross sectional shape of the above organic fibers 2 is an almost circle.Another case will be explained, in which the cross sectional shape ofthe organic fibers 2 which forms the organic fiber assembly 1 is made atriangular cross section which is modified cross section other than thealmost circle. The case will be explained using an example, in which theorganic fibers 2 having the modified cross section is used formanufacturing the organic fiber assembly 1, 300 sheets of the organicfiber assembly 1 are laminated to form the core material 5, and thevacuum heat insulating material 7 is manufactured in the same manner asdiscussed above.

The heat conductivity is measured as the heat insulating performanceevaluation of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 in which the organicfiber assembly 1 using the organic fibers 2 having a modified crosssection, for example, a triangular cross section is applied. For acomparison example, the heat conductivity of another vacuum heatinsulating material 7, in which the organic fibers 2 having an almostcircular cross section including an almost same dimension of the crosssection is used, is also measured. The heat conductivity is 0.0017[W/m²] for the vacuum heat insulating material 7 in which the organicfiber assembly 1 using the organic fibers 2 having the almost triangularcross section is applied. On the other hand, the heat conductivity is0.0020 [W/m²] for the vacuum heat insulating material 7 in which theorganic fiber assembly 1 using the organic fibers 2 having the almostcircular cross section is applied. Therefore, it is found that the heatinsulating performance can be improved when the organic fibers 2 havingthe almost triangular cross section is used rather than when the organicfibers 2 having the almost circular cross section is used.

Since the inside of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 is almostvacuum state, the organic fiber assembly 1 which forms the core material5 receives atmospheric pressure through the outer cover material 4. Whenviewed from an arbitrary contacting point as a reference, at which theorganic fibers 2 are contacted with each other, since the organic fiber2 is also contacted with another fiber, the organic fiber 2 receivespressure by a contacting point with the other fiber as a point ofsupport, becomes deflected, so that the organic fiber 2 becomescontacted with more other fibers, and thus the heat conductivity becomeslarger; that is, the heat insulating performance is degraded.

Therefore, it is considered that the heat insulating performance isimproved by having the modified cross section, because by making thecross sectional shape of the organic fibers 2 the almost triangularshape including the almost same dimension of the almost circular crosssection, the stiffness is improved compared with the fibers having thealmost circular cross section including the almost same dimension ofcross section, and the deflection of the fibers at the time of receivingthe atmospheric pressure is reduced.

From the above, the heat insulating performance can be improved when thecross sectional shape of the organic fibers 2 is made to be the modifiedcross section (the almost triangular shape, for example) rather than thealmost circular shape. Further, if the organic fibers 2 has the modifiedcross sectional shape (for example, an almost triangular shape, apolygonal shape, etc.) including the almost same dimension as the almostcircular cross section of the fiber such that the modified crosssectional shape increases the second moment of area, the deformation ofthe vacuum heat insulating material 7 at the time of receiving theatmospheric pressure can be reduced, the solid volume fraction withinthe vacuum heat insulating material 7 can be decreased, and thus it ispossible to obtain the vacuum heat insulating material 7 of which theheat insulating performance is improved.

Further, the cross sectional shape of the organic fiber 2 beforevacuuming is made an almost C shape, and after vacuuming a C-shapedopening portion is deformed by the pressure into a hollow tubular shapeof which the C-shaped opening portion is closed (the diameter of theclosed C-shaped opening portion is almost the same as the outer diameterof the almost circular shape). If such organic fiber 2 is used, sincethe cross section is tubular (the almost circular shape of which thecenter portion is hollow), the heat transfer becomes worse rather thanthe case of using the fiber having the almost circular cross section,and thus the heat insulating performance is improved.

In this case, if the hollow tubular fiber is used for the initial fiber,the air in the hollow portion is hard to be removed by vacuuming, ittakes long to vacuum. Further, there occurs a problem that the degree ofvacuum of the hollow portion is not decreased. On the other hand,according to the present embodiment, the cross sectional shape of theorganic fiber 2 before vacuuming is the almost C-shaped having theopening portion, and after vacuuming, the organic fiber 2 is pressed bythe pressure and deformed into the hollow tubular shape of which theC-shaped opening portion is closed (the diameter of the closed C-shapedopening portion is almost the same as the outer diameter of the almostcircular shape). Since such organic fiber 2 is used, the vacuuming timecan be reduced, a predetermined degree of vacuum can be obtained, andfurther the vacuum heat insulating material 7 having a good heatinsulating performance can be obtained.

Here, the organic fiber 2 having the C-shaped cross section is used,after vacuuming, the C-shaped opening portion is deformed by thepressure into the hollow tubular shape of which the C-shaped openingportion is closed (the diameter of the closed C-shaped opening portionis almost the same as the outer diameter of the almost circular shape).In this hollow tubular shape of which the C-shaped opening portion isclosed, when a rate of the outer diameter to the inner diameter (whenthis rate is 0%, the inner diameter is 0, which shows the inside is acircular cross section including no opening portion nor hollow portion)when the C-shaped opening portion is closed is a range of 30% to 70%,the heat conductivity is 0.0016 to 0.0019 (W/mK), which is small enough,and it is found that the heat insulating performance is improved. Thisis also confirmed for a case when the rate of the outer diameter to theinner diameter is no more than 20% and a case of at least 80%, and it isfound the heat conductivities are large, and the heat insulatingperformance is degraded compared with the case of 30% to 70%.

(Heat insulating performance 8)

(Opening Portion Such as a Through Hole, a Notch, Etc.)

Next, in order to compare the size of strain and the deformation due tothe creeping at the manufacturing step of the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, the thickness of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 ismeasured after manufacturing the vacuum heat insulating material 7 inthe above-discussed manner. Then, after soaking in a normal temperaturetank at 60 degrees Celsius, heating is applied for about 11 hours, andthe vacuum heat insulating material 7 is pulled out and the thickness ofthe vacuum heat insulating material 7 is measured again.

FIG. 16 shows the first embodiment and is an correlation diagram showingthe fabric weight of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 andcompressive strain. The compressive strain a can be obtained, forexample, as in the following:

Compressive strain σ=(t _(B) −t _(A))/t _(A)

where

-   -   t_(A): the thickness of the vacuum heat insulating material 7        before heated    -   t_(B): the thickness of the vacuum heat insulating material 7        after heated with 60 degrees Celsius for 11 hours

From FIG. 16, as for the compressive strain [%], from about 13 [g/m²] to85 [g/m²] of the fabric weight, according to the increase of the fabricweight, the compressive strain is suddenly reduced. Further, from about85 [g/m²] of the fabric weight, as the fabric weight increases, thereduction of the compressive strain becomes slow. When the fabric weightis at least 110 [g/m²], it is understood that the compressive strainstays almost fixed, and is not changed so much. Namely, when the fabricweight is about 85 [g/m²], the reducing rate of the compressive strainis changed; that is, there exists a turning point.

It is considered that since if the fabric weight is small, thelamination becomes the one of thin sheets, the smaller the fabric weightis, the softer the lamination becomes; that is, the stiffness againstthe compression becomes small, the stiffness is hardly maintained, thesheet becomes easily deformed, and thus the strain becomes large.

On the contrary, when the fabric weight exceeds about 85 [g/m²] (orabout 110 [g/m²]), the thickness of one sheet becomes somewhat thick,the stiffness against the compression can be obtained, and thus thesheet becomes hard to be deformed or strained.

Therefore, if the fabric weight of the non-woven cloth which is theorganic fiber assembly 1 is made at least 85 g/m² and no more than 198g/m², since the thickness of one sheet becomes thick and hard to bestrained, the stiffness against the compression can be obtained, andthus the deformation becomes hard to occur at the time of vacuuming.Accordingly, the shape failure due to the deformation would not occurand the vacuum heat insulating material 7 with high reliability can beobtained.

FIG. 17 shows the first embodiment and a diagrammatic view showing thefabric weight of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 and the number oflaminated sheets (the number of laminated sheets when the thickness ofvacuum heat insulating material is a predetermined thickness, forexample, the thickness after vacuuming is a predetermined thickness).The higher the fabric weight is, the less the number of laminated sheetsbecomes. Namely, when the fabric weight is high, the number of thelaminated sheets is small, and the productivity is good; that is, thefabric weight is preferably at least 98 [g/m²] which is a point in FIG.17 from which a slope of the line becomes small (gradual).

Here, although the upper limit value of the fabric weight is notspecifically described, the fabric weight is desirable to be the onewhich makes the number of laminated sheets one. The less the number oflaminated sheets is, the laminating step can be saved during theproduction; that is, the productivity becomes good, and thus when thefabric weight is increased as much as possible and the number oflaminated sheets is reduced, the productivity is improved.

From the above, from the viewpoint of productivity, it is understoodthat the fabric weight is desired to be at least 98 [g/m²]. On the otherhand, from the viewpoint of improvement of the heat insulatingperformance, the fabric weight is desired to be at least 4.7 [g/m²] andno more than 70 [g/m²], or the fabric weight is at least 140 [g/m²] andno more than the fabric weight which makes the number of laminatedsheets one. Further, from the viewpoint of the creeping characteristicswith consideration of the compressive strain, the fabric weight isdesired to be at least 85 [g/m²], preferably at least 110 [g/m²] and nomore than the fabric weight which makes the number of laminated sheetsone.

Further, by using the long fiber, if the fabric weight is made at least98 [g/m²] and no more than 198 [g/m²], while the heat insulatingperformance is maintained, the compressive strain can be suppressed tobe small, and thus it is possible to obtain the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 with less deformation and high reliability

Further, by mixing and laminating the first core material having a highfabric weight or a high fabric volume and the second core materialhaving a low fabric weight or a low fabric volume (for example, bycombining alternatively the first core material and the second corematerial), compared with the case of laminating the sheets having thesame thickness, if the thickness after lamination is the same, thestrain can be reduced in the core material 5 totally, and further, thethickness can be reduced rather than the case of laminating the samenumber of sheets having the high fabric weight. Therefore, it ispossible to obtain the highly reliable vacuum heat insulating material 7of which the heat insulating performance is good, the laminatedthickness is thin, and the deformation due to the strain is small.

Further, the necessary heat insulating performance can be secured morecompared with the case of laminating the same number of sheets having alow fabric weight, and as well a predetermined stiffness can beobtained, the heat insulating performance is good, and thus it ispossible to obtain the highly reliable vacuum heat insulating material 7with less deformation and high performance. Here, the combinationexample of the first core material and the second core material has beenexplained; the same effect can be obtained by combining and laminatingplural sheet-shaped core materials 5 having different fabric weights.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, a sheet with a high fabric weight (forexample, the fabric weight within a range of small compressive strain isat least 110 [g/m²] and no more than 198 [g/m²]) and small compressivestrain is used for the first organic fiber assembly 1 x, and a sheetwith a low fabric weight (for example, the heat insulating performanceratio is at least 4.7 [g/m²] and no more than 70 [g/m²]) and a littlebit large compressive strain is used for the second organic fiberassembly 1 y, and they are laminated alternatively to form one sheet ofthe core material 5. In this way, the compressive strain can besuppressed by the first organic fiber assembly 1 x with the high fabricweight, and the thickness of the core material 5 can be reduced totallyby the second organic fiber assembly 1 y of which the fabric weight islow and the heat insulating performance is good, and further the corematerial 5 becomes easily folded. Therefore, the thickness of the vacuumheat insulating material 7 which is formed by mixing and laminatingplural types of sheets each having different thickness is made the sameas the thickness of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 which isformed by laminating sheets each having the same thickness, and therebysince the second organic fiber assembly 1 y with good heat insulatingperformance is laminated, the heat insulating performance of the corematerial 5 is improved, the stiffness becomes small, and thus foldingprocess, etc. can be easily done. Further, since the first organic fiberassembly 1 x with small compressive strain is laminated, the compressivestrain is small, the stiffness is high, and thus the vacuum heatinsulating material 7 with good usability and good heat insulatingperformance can be obtained.

From the above, for the core material 5 of the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, if the organic fiber assembly 1 is manufactured bycontinuous long fibers to which the heat deposition by the embossing 110is not applied and is continuous exceeding the length of the sheet, theheat insulating performance becomes better. Obviously, it is needless tosay, also in the case where the heat deposition by the embossing 110 isapplied, the heat insulating performance becomes good when the organicfiber assembly 1 is manufactured by the long fibers being continuousexceeding the length of the sheet.

(Heat Insulating Performance 9)

(A Through Hole and a Notch)

In the present embodiment, the vacuum heat insulating material 7 isprovided with a penetrating opening portion 70 such as a through holeand a notch, etc. FIG. 18 shows the first embodiment and is a frontalview of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 having the openingportion. FIG. 19 shows an appearance of the opening portion of the corematerial 5 of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 when conventionalshort fiber is used for the core material 5. FIG. 20 shows the firstembodiment and is a drawing showing an example in which a heat depositedportion such as the embossing 110 is provided around an outercircumference of the opening portion of the core material 5 of thevacuum heat insulating material 7.

In FIGS. 18 through 20, at the core material 5 of which the end faces 1a and 5 a are cut to form into a predetermined size (for example, A4size), a core material opening portion 51, which has a predeterminedsize being smaller than the size of the core material 5 and larger thana necessary size and penetrates the core material 5 such as a throughhole or a notch, is provided previously.

Here, as shown in FIG. 18, since the core material 5 or the organicfiber 2 which has been discussed above in the present embodiment is usedfor the core material 5 or the organic fiber 2 in this case, the heatinsulating performance is excellent.

The core material 5 is inserted to the outer cover material 4, dried,and vacuumed, and then a sealing portion 45 of an insertion hole of theouter cover material 4 is sealed by heat deposition, etc. After that,vacuuming is done, the inside portion (a vacuum heat insulating materialopening portion sealing area 78) of a core material opening portion 51such as the through hole or the notch, etc. is heat-deposited andsealed, and an outer cover material opening portion 41 which is athrough hole is formed by cutting the outer cover material 4 with analmost similar shape to the core material opening portion 51 and smallerthan the core material opening portion 51 with an amount of a vacuumheat insulating material opening portion sealing area 75, which ispredetermined necessary sealing length. By this operation, a vacuum heatinsulating material opening portion 71 such as the through hole or thenotch, etc. is finally formed on the vacuum heat insulating material 7.

Here, on the outer cover material 4, the outer cover material openingportion 41, which is smaller than the size of the core material openingportion 51 with the amount of the vacuum heat insulating materialopening portion sealing area 75 at the almost same position as the corematerial opening portion 51 of the core material 5 when the corematerial 5 is inserted, is provided, the core material 5 is inserted tothe outer cover material 4, and a vacuum heat insulating materialopening portion sealing portion 78 (with the length of the vacuum heatinsulating material opening portion sealing area 75) between the outercover material 4 and the core material 5 is heat-deposited, dried, andvacuumed, and then the sealing portion 45 (the inserting portion) of theinserting hole of the outer cover material 4 can be sealed.

Here, as shown in FIG. 19, if a short fiber (for example, fibers ofwhich fiber length is about 5 to 150 mm) being shorter than the lengthor the width of the sheet of the predetermined is used for the organicfiber 2 which is conventionally used for the core material 5, when thecore material opening portion 51 such as the through hole or the notchis provided at the core material 5, when the core material openingportion 51 such as the through hole or the notch is removed from theorganic fiber assembly 1 (sheet) by cutting (cut away), the organicfibers 2 bridging (bridging a cut portion to be removed and a remainingportion of the sheet) the core material opening portion 51 is split intoa remaining fiber 2 a and a cutoff fiber 2 b by cutting, the remainingfiber 2 a remains on the sheet and the cutoff fiber 2 b is removed fromthe sheet.

Since the remaining fiber 2 a which remains at the sheet side other thanthe cutoff fiber 2 b (a portion other than the portion to be removed) iscut (cut off), the length of the remaining fiber 2 a becomes Y which isshorter than an initial fiber length X (a short fiber, about 5 to 150mm, for example).

In particular, if the initial fiber length X is short, the fiber lengthY of the remaining fiber 2 a remained at the sheet portion may beextremely short. In this case, the remaining fiber 2 a cannot be tangledwith the existing fibers of the sheet portion since the fiber length Yof the remaining fiber 2 a is short, but the remaining fiber may beragged and protruded. If this happens, when the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial opening portion sealing area 75 of the outer cover material 4around the core material opening portion 51 is sealed by heatdeposition, etc., the remaining fiber 2 a which has been ragged andprotruded is intruded to the vacuum heat insulating material openingportion sealing area 75, which may generate sealing failure, and theheat insulating performance possibly may be extremely degraded.

For example, it is assumed that if the short fiber having the initialfiber length X of 55 mm is used, and the through hole which is the corematerial opening portion 51 has the diameter of about 50 mm, 50 mm outof the initial fiber length X of 55 mm is cut and removed by the throughhole. In this case, the fiber length Y (the length) of the remainingfiber 2 a remaining at the organic fiber assembly 1 (sheet) is about 5mm. The fiber having the length of 5 mm cannot be tangled with theexisting fiber in the sheet, the remaining fiber may be ragged andprotruded around the through hole portion which is the core materialopening portion 51. When the outer cover material 4 around the throughhole 51 is sealed by heat deposition, etc., the fibers ragged andprotruded to the through hole portion which is the core material openingportion 51 may intrude in the vacuum heat insulating material openingportion sealing area 75, the sealing failure may occur, and thus theheat insulating performance is extremely degraded. Further, at thevacuuming step, the remaining fiber 2 a (the remaining fiber 2 a ofwhich the fiber length becomes Y), of which the fiber length is madeshort by cutting, is made to easily protrude by the vacuuming, and it ispossibly sucked by a vacuum pump, which may cause the failure of thevacuum pump.

However, in the present embodiment, since the long fiber of thecontinuous organic fiber 2 is used for the organic fiber assembly 1(non-woven cloth sheet), the initial fiber length X is more than thelength of the non-woven cloth sheet (for example, the long side or theshort side of the A4 size) in a status in which the core material 5 iscut (cutoff) into a predetermined size (for example, A4 size).Accordingly, if the core material opening portion 51 such as the throughhole or the notch, etc., the size of which is no more than the width(for example, the length of the short side) of the organic fiberassembly 1, is cut, since the fiber length is long (continuous), if theorganic fiber assembly is cut (cutoff) by the core material openingportion 51, the fiber length Y of the remaining fiber 2 a remaining atthe sheet side other than the cutoff fiber 2 b of the portion to beremoved by the cutoff can be secured long, and thus the remaining fiber2 a is tangled with the existing fiber in the organic fiber assembly 1and does not protrude from the core material opening portion 51.

Namely, when the long fiber (for example, a continuous fiber or a fiberhaving the length of at least the length of the sheet) is used, even ifthe core material opening portion 51 such as the through hole or thenotch, etc. is provided by cutting, the fiber length Y of the remainingfiber 2 a of the cutting portion of the core material opening portion 51such as the through hole or the notch, etc. can be secured long.Therefore, fiber waste of the remaining fiber 2 a remained on the sheetby cutting does not protrude around the inside of the cutting portion ofthe core material opening portion 51 such as the through hole or thenotch, etc., the sealing failure does not occur, and thus it is possibleto obtain the vacuum heat insulating material 7 of which the heatinsulating performance is not degraded if the time passes, the heatinsulating box and the equipments, etc. using the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7.

Further, in the present embodiment, the long fibers, of which theinitial fiber length X is at least the same length (or the width) of theorganic fiber assembly 1 (the non-woven cloth sheet), are used, so thatif the vacuum heat insulating material opening portion 71 such as thethrough hole or the notch, etc. is provided at the vacuum heatinsulating material 7, the sealing failure, etc. does not occur, and itis possible to obtain the vacuum heat insulating material 7 of which theheat insulating performance is hardly degraded.

Here, the fiber length being at least the same length as the length (orthe width) of the organic fiber assembly 1 (the non-woven cloth sheet)is used. However, as for the fiber length of the long fiber, when thevacuum heat insulating material opening portion 71 such as the throughhole or the notch, etc. is provided at the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, the fiber length Y of the remaining fiber 2 a should besufficiently long so that the remaining fiber hardly protrudes to theinside (the outside), etc. of the core material opening portion 51 suchas the through hole or the notch, etc. due to ravel, etc. When the fiberlength is sufficiently longer than the size of the core material openingportion 51 such as the through hole or the notch, etc. (the longer thefiber length is than the size of the diameter of the through hole or thesize of the notch, the better; for example, the long fiber of which thefiber length Y of the remaining fiber 2 a is longer than the diameter ofthe through hole or the size of the notch which is the core materialopening portion 51 with at least about 10 mm (preferably at least 15mm)), if the core material opening portion 51 such as the through holeor the notch is provided, and the sheet is removed by the core materialopening portion 51, the length Y of the remaining fiber 2 a of theremaining portion of the core material 5 other than the core materialopening portion 51 is at least 10 mm (preferably, at least 15 mm),possibility of being ragged and protruded to around the through hole isdecreased, the sealing property is hardly degraded, and the degradationof the heat insulating performance due to the sealing failure can besuppressed.

Further, in the present embodiment, the case in which the core materialopening portion 51 of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 is cut(cutoff) has been explained. The application of the embodiment is notlimited to the core material opening portion 51. If applied to the endface of the sheet of the core material 5 of the portion to be sealed(for example, at least one end face of the organic fiber assembly 1 ofwhich the end face 5 a (or the end face 1 a) is cut with thepredetermined size), etc., the sealing failure does not occur, and it isneedless to say, the degradation of the heat insulating performance canbe suppressed.

For example, when the core material 5 of which the end face is cut andbecomes a predetermined size (for example, A4 size) is inserted into theouter cover material 4, and the insertion opening 4 a of the outer covermaterial is sealed, the embodiment can be applied to the end faces 1 a,5 a which is the cut face (cutoff face) of the core material 5 or theorganic fiber assembly 1 (the non-woven cloth sheet) corresponding tothe insertion opening 4 a of the outer cover material 4. The insertionopening 4 a to which the core material 5 of the outer cover material 4is inserted is sealed at the sealing portion 45 by the heat depositedportion, etc. after the core material 5 is inserted. Accordingly, likethe present embodiment, since the long fiber (for example, the fiber ofwhich the initial fiber length is at least the same length or width ofthe organic fiber assembly 1 (the non-woven cloth sheet) of which theend face 5 a (or 1 a, or the core material opening portion 51) is cut,preferably the fiber of which the fiber length Y of the remaining fiber2 a remained on the sheet after the end face and 5 a (or 1 a, or thecore material opening portion 51) is cut is at least 10 mm (preferablyat least 15 mm, more preferably at least 20 mm) is used, if the corematerial 5 is cut to produce the core material 5 or the organic fiberassembly 1 with the predetermined length, the fiber length Y of theremaining fiber 2 a can secure the predetermined length (for example,the fiber length of the remaining fiber 2 a remained after cutting is atleast 10 mm (preferably at least 15 mm, more preferably at least 20mm)). Therefore, the remaining fiber 2 a does not protrude from thecutoff face of the core material 5 or the organic fiber assembly 1, thesealing failure does not occur, and it is possible to obtain the highlyreliable vacuum heat insulating material 7 of which heat insulatingperformance is hardly degraded for a long term.

Here, the fiber length of the long organic fiber can be, for example,the initial fiber of which the fiber length Y of the remaining fiber 2 aremained on the sheet after cutting (cutoff) the sheet is at least 10 mm(preferably at least 15 mm, more preferably at least 20 mm). Preferably,it is desired that the long fiber should be at least the same length (orthe width) of the non-woven cloth sheet, and more preferably, the longfiber should be continuous from one end to the other end of the length(or the width) of the sheet.

Therefore, since the long fiber of which the end face is cut and iscontinuous in the length direction or the width direction of the organicfiber assembly 1 having the predetermined size and width is used for theorganic fiber 2, and the length of the remaining fiber 2 a which isgenerated on the cutting portion (for example, the end face 1 a, 5 awhich is the cutting portion of the sheet end face of the core material5 or the organic fiber assembly 1 or the cutting portion 51 of the holeformation or the cutting portion 51 of the notch formation) of theorganic fiber assembly 1 (the non-woven cloth sheet) by cutting can besecured long, it is possible to suppress protrusion of the remainingfiber generated on the end face 1 a, 5 a, 51 which is the cuttingportion generated if the conventional case using the short fiber bycutting. It becomes unnecessary to increase the length of sealing of thesealing portion 45 or the opening portion sealing area 78 withconsideration of protrusion of the remaining fiber like the conventionalcase using the short fiber. Accordingly, the sealing length of thesealing portion 45, 78 of the outer cover material 4 can be shortened,and thus it is possible to obtain the compact low-cost vacuum heatinsulating material. Further, if the size of the outer cover material 4is the same, compared with the conventional case using the short fiber,the size of the core material 5 (the length or the width of the sheet)can be increased with an amount of the length of protrusion (forexample, about 1 mm to 10 mm), the heat insulated area can be increased,and thus the heat insulating performance is improved.

Further, as shown in FIG. 20, if continuously to or with a predeterminedinterval with the periphery of a portion of the core material 5 which isnot to be cut by the core material opening portion 51 such as thethrough hole or the notch, etc. which is to be cut (for example, theouter circumference of the core material opening portion 51, if theportion to be cut is the core material opening portion 51, and theinside portion of the core material opening portion 51 is to be removedby cutoff), the heat deposited portion such as the embossing 110, etc.is provided, it is possible to suppress the protrusion of the remainingfiber. Further, when the portion to be cut is the end face of theorganic fiber assembly 1, continuously to or with a predeterminedinterval with neighborhood of the cutoff face of the end face of theremaining sheet portion (the portion which forms the organic fiberassembly 1) which is not the portion to be cut, if the heat depositedportion such as the embossing 110, etc. is provided, the fibers ofneighborhood of the cutoff portion are attached with each other due tothe heat deposition such as the embossing 110, etc. and the fibers 2become hard to be ragged and thus it is possible to suppress theprotrusion of the remaining fiber. Like this, by providing the embossing110, etc., it is possible to further reduce the sealing failure, andsuppressing effect of the heat insulating performance is furtherimproved. Here, the heat deposited portion such as the embossing 110,etc. can be provided at only neighborhood of the cutoff portion,however, it is not necessary to concentratedly provide at neighborhoodof the cutoff portion, but the effect can be obtained if plural heatdeposited portions are provided over the sheet-shaped organic fiberassembly 1 as a whole with a predetermined interval. Further, when theheat deposited portion such as the embossing 110, etc. is provided so asto penetrate the thickness of the organic fiber assembly 1, the effectis large, and when the size of the heat deposited portion is large, theeffect is large. However, without penetrating, the length of the heatdeposited portion in the thickness direction can be set appropriately aswell as the size of the heat deposited portion within a range not togenerate the sealing failure based on experiments.

Here, in the present embodiment, it has been explained that using thelong fiber having the continuous fiber length being longer than theshortest length of the sheet (the organic fiber assembly 1) such as thelength direction or the width direction of the sheet improves the heatinsulating performance compared with the case using the short fiberbeing shorter than the shortest length of the sheet such as the lengthdirection or the width direction of the sheet, and it is preferable touse the continuous long fiber. It is considered that the fiber may tearhalfway during the manufacturing process of the organic fiber assembly1, and that fibers which are not continuously longer than the shortestlength of the sheet such as the length direction or the width directionof the sheet may be mixed. In the present embodiment, if the continuouslong fibers being longer than the shortest length of the sheet in thelength direction or the width direction of the sheet are included withat least 50% of the whole fibers, the heat insulating performance can beimproved. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the organic fiberassembly 1 formed by the long fibers, at least 50% of which (preferablyat least 70%) is occupied by the continuous long fibers being longerthan the shortest length of the sheet in the length direction or thewidth direction of the sheet, is used.

(Heat Insulating Box)

Next, one embodiment example will be explained, in which the vacuum heatinsulating material 7 of the present invention is applied to arefrigerator.

FIG. 21 shows the first embodiment for explaining a heat insulating boxand is a sectional side view of frontal view showing an example appliedto a refrigerator like a pattern diagram. Since the vacuum heatinsulating material 7, the core material 5, or the organic fiberassembly 1, etc. which has been explained in the present embodiment isused for the vacuum heat insulating material 7, the core material 5, orthe organic fiber assembly 1, etc. in this example, the heat insulatingperformance is excellent.

In FIG. 21, a refrigerator 100 includes an external box 9, an internalbox 10 arranged inside of the external box 9, the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 and a foam insulation 11 arranged in a space between theexternal box 9 and the internal box 10, and a refrigeration unit (notillustrated) having a compressor for supplying cold energy to the insideof the internal box 10. Here, a heat insulating box body formed by theexternal box 9 and the internal box 10 is provided with an openingportion at the front face, and an opening/closing door is arranged atthe opening portion (none of them illustrated).

Here, if the outer cover material 4 including aluminum foil is used forthe outer cover material 4 of the vacuum heat insulating material 7,since the aluminum foil is included, heat may be transferred through thealuminum foil to generate a heat bridge which circulates heat, and theheat insulating performance may be degraded. Therefore, in order tosuppress the effect of the heat bridge, the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 is arranged separately from a coated steel plate of theexternal box 9 using a spacer 8 which is a resin molded product. Here,the spacer 8 is provided with a suitable hole for not preventing theflow, so that a void may not be generated in polyurethane form whichwill be injected into the heat insulating wall at a later step.

Namely, the refrigerator 100 includes a heat insulating wall 12 formedby the vacuum heat insulating material 7, the spacer 8, and the foaminsulation 11. Here, a range at which the heat insulating wall 12including the vacuum heat insulating material 7 is provided is notlimited; it can be all or a part of the space formed between theexternal box 9 and the internal box 10, or the heat insulating wall 12can be arranged inside of the opening/closing door.

After using, the refrigerator 100 is demolished/recycled at a recyclecenter at each location according to Electric Appliance Recycling Law.At this time, the refrigerator 100 of the present embodiment includesthe vacuum heat insulating material 7 formed by the core material 5which is the organic fiber assembly 1 (formed by the organic fibers 2).Accordingly, at the time of thermal recycle, the refrigerator 100 doesnot lower the combustion efficiency nor stay as a residue, that is, therecyclability is good, so that it is possible to carry out crushingprocess without removing the vacuum heat insulating material 7.

Further, in the refrigerator 100, of which the heat insulating box isprovided with the vacuum heat insulating material 7, if the vacuum heatinsulating material 7 is a vacuum heat insulating panel of which thecore material 5 is inorganic powder, since the powder may flydispersedly, the heat insulating box as it is cannot be crushed.Accordingly, it is necessary to remove the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 from the refrigerator box body with a lot of time and effort.

Further, if the core material 5 of a vacuum heat insulating panel isglass fiber, the heat insulating box can be crushed as it is; however,the crushed glass fiber may be mixed with ground product of polyurethanefoam and supplied to thermal recycle. At this time, the recyclabilitymay have a problem that such vacuum heat insulating panel may lower thecombustion efficiency or remain as a residue after combustion.

In the present embodiment, since no inorganic fiber such as the glassfiber is included in the core material 5, even if it is crushed, such asglass powder, etc. is not generated. Therefore, harmful effect to thehuman body due to the glass powder, etc. can be suppressed, and further,it is unnecessary to remove the vacuum heat insulating material 7 fromthe refrigerator box body with a lot of time and effort. Therefore, itis possible to largely reduce the time for demolishing, therecyclability is good, and the recycling efficiency is extremelyimproved.

In the above discussion, the refrigerator 100 is shown as an example ofthe heat insulating box; however, the present embodiment is not limitedto this. Various effects which have been discussed above can be obtainedwhen applied to cooling devices or heating devices such as a warmer box,a vehicle air-conditioner, a water heater, a hot-water tank, etc. Inaddition, the box body having a predetermined shape can be replaced witha heat insulating bag (a heat insulating container) having flexibleexternal and internal bags.

(Refrigerator)

FIGS. 22 to 24 show the first embodiment; FIG. 22 is a cross sectionalview of the refrigerator 100, FIG. 23 shows a pattern diagram showingthe core material 5 of the vacuum heat insulating material 7 used for aheat insulating partition of the refrigerator 100 shown in FIG. 22, andFIG. 24 is a pattern diagram drawing showing the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 used for the heat insulating partition of the refrigerator100.

The vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700, the core material 5, and theorganic fiber assembly 1, etc. which have been discussed in the aboveembodiment are used for the vacuum heat insulating material 700, thecore material 5, the organic fiber assembly 2, etc. used here, so thatthe heat insulating performance is excellent.

In the figure, a food storage room of the refrigerator 100 includes arefrigerating room 150 arranged at the topmost part and provided with arefrigerating room door 160 which is the opening/closing door, aswitching room 200 which is able to switch the temperature band from theone for frozen storage (−18 degrees Celsius), for cool storage, forvegetables, for chilled storage, for softly freezing (−7 degreesCelsius), etc. arranged at lower to the refrigerating room 150 andprovided with a switching room door 210 which is a drawer type door; anice making room 500 arranged in parallel to the switching room 200 andprovided with an ice making room door 510 which is a drawer type door; afreezing room 300 arranged at the lowermost part and provided with afreezing room door 310 which is a drawer type door; and a vegetable room400 arranged between the freezing room 300 and the switching room 200and the ice making room 500 and provided with a vegetable room door 410which is a drawer type door, and so on. On the front side surface of therefrigerating room door 160 of the refrigerator 100 is provided with anoperation panel 180 consisting of an operation switch for adjustingtemperature or setting of each room and a liquid crystal for displayinga temperature of each room, and so on.

At a lower part of the rear surface side of the refrigerator 100, amachine room 601 provided with a compressor 600 which forms arefrigerating cycle, and a cooler room 640, in which a cooler 650 and afan 660 for blowing air cooled by the cooler 650 to the refrigeratingroom 150 or the switching room 200, and so on are arranged.

A cooling air passage 680 for introducing the cooling air cooled by thecooler 650 to the refrigerating room 150 from the cooler room 640 and anair passage 690 for introducing the cooling air cooled by the cooler 650to the freezing room 300, and so on are provided.

Further, at the top part of the refrigerator 100, on the rear surface ofthe heat insulating wall arranged at the rear surface of therefrigerating room 150, a control board 900 is contained in a controlboard containing room 910. The control board 900 is provided withcontrol lead wires and power source wires connected to the compressor600 and a damper, etc. which opens/closes the cooling air passages forcontrolling temperatures of the storage rooms such as the refrigeratingroom 150 or the freezing room 300, etc. by opening/closing control ofthe compressor 600 and the cooling air passages.

Here, the switching room 200 is provided with a containing case 201, thefreezing room 300 with a containing case 301, and the vegetable room 400with a containing case 401, respectively, and it is possible to storefood in these cases.

Here, a vacuum heat insulating material 700 is provided at the heatinsulating wall between the machine room 601 located at the lower partof the refrigerator 100 and the cooler room 640. The vacuum heatinsulating material 700 can be provided as a single unit or it also canbe embedded or arranged in the foam insulation 11.

Namely, the refrigerator 100 of the present embodiment includes aplurality of storage rooms including the refrigerating room 150 providedwith the opening/closing refrigerating room door 160, the switching room200, the freezing room 300, the vegetable room 400, and the ice makingroom 500, respectively provided with the switching room door 210, thefreezing room door 310, the vegetable room door 410, and the ice makingroom door 510 which are drawer type doors, and so on; the cooler and 650arranged at the rear surface side of the storage rooms through thepartition wall for generating cooling air to the storage rooms; theinternal fan 660 for blowing the cooling air generated by the cooler 650to each storage room; the cooler room 640 arranged at the rear surfaceside of the storage rooms through the partition wall for containing thecooler and the internal fan; the machine room 601 arranged at the lowerpart or the upper part of the refrigerator 100 for containing thecompressor 600 which forms the refrigerating cycle; the first heatinsulating wall arranged between the machine room 601 and the coolerroom 640; the second heat insulating wall arranged between the machineroom and storage rooms; and the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700which is provided at either of the doors of the storage rooms, the firstheat insulating wall, or the second heat insulating wall, structured bylamination structure of the organic fiber assembly 1 made by thesheet-shaped organic fiber 2, and formed by inserting the core material5 having a cutting portion, of which the end face has been cut, into theouter cover material 4, and sealing the sealing portion of the outercover material around the sheet so as to hermetically seal the insidewith almost vacuum status. In the above, the long fiber having at leastthe same length as the organic fiber assembly 1 is used for the organicfiber 2.

The vacuum heat insulating material 700 provided at the heat insulatingwall between the machine room 601 and the cooler room 640 has a Z-shapedcomplex structure, in which the vacuum heat insulating material 700 isfolded at two points as shown in FIG. 22. The vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 700 is inserted to the outer cover material 4 with a status ofa sheet having a predetermined size, in which the core material 5 formedby laminating the organic fiber assembly 1 made of long fibers and theend face of which is cut. After drying and vacuuming, the vacuum heatinsulating material 700 is completed by sealing the inserted portion ofthe outer cover material 4 with heat deposition, etc.

In the present embodiment, the organic fiber assembly 1 is used for thecore material 5, and folded portions 55 and 56 (a hole formation or agroove formation, etc. by melting, for example) such as forming aplurality of small shallow holes or continuous grooves which do notpenetrate but can obtain the heat insulating performance on at least onesurface of the side desired to fold. Therefore, after completing, thevacuum heat insulating material 700 can be easily folded by the foldedportion 55, 56 of the core material 5 with a necessary predeterminedangle.

At this time, the size, the groove width, and the depth, etc. aredecided appropriately by an experiment, etc. based on the angle to befolded and the amount to be folded, etc.

Further, providing the folded portion 55, 56 at both sides of thefolding portion within a range not to penetrate the folding portionmakes folding operation easy, so that it becomes possible to fold with alarge angle. In addition, since the folded portion 55, 56 does notpenetrate the core material 5, the heat insulating performance can bemaintained. Further, the long fiber which is longer than the length ofthe sheet (the length of the long side or the short side of the sheet)having the predetermined size is used for the core material 5, the heatinsulating performance is good. Further, since the organic fiber is usedfor the core material 5, compared with the case of using the glass fiberfor the core material, it causes no harmful effect to human body, andthe recyclability is also good.

Using laser processing, the hole formation can be easily done even ifthe hole has a complex shape, and the increase of the temperature can besuppressed at the time of melting, so that it is possible to do the holeformation or the continuous groove formation with a necessary size,width, and depth at only necessary portion. If the laser processing isapplied to the embossing process, it becomes unnecessary to prepare aheat roller separately, that is, the equipment investment can bereduced, and the vacuum heat insulating material 7 and the refrigerator100 can be obtained with a low cost. In the present embodiment, theapplication example to the refrigerator has been explained; however, thepresent embodiment can be applied to equipments other than therefrigerator such as a water heater, a freezer, or an air-conditioner,etc. Further, in the present embodiment, the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 700 having the “Z” shaped complex structure with two foldedportions has been explained; however, the present embodiment can beeasily applied to the vacuum heat insulating material having a “L”shaped structure with one folded portion, a “U” shaped structure withtwo folded portions, a “C” shaped, “J” shaped, or “W” shaped structurewith plural folded portions. Therefore, the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial of the present embodiment is applicable to a complex shapedportion (portions of shapes of “Z”, “U”, “C”, “J”, or “W”, etc.,portions having a projection, or portions provided with a piping), towhich it has been difficult to mount the vacuum heat insulating materialsince the folding process or the hole formation are difficult; that is,the vacuum heat insulating material of the present embodiment can bemounted to all kinds of equipments. The equipments such as arefrigerator mounting the vacuum heat insulating material of the presentembodiment has a good recyclability, causes no harmful effect on a humanbody, and it is expected that the heat insulating performance isimproved.

Here, the heat insulating wall between the machine room 601 and thecooler room 640 is sometimes penetrated by a piping for connecting thecompressor 600 and the cooler 650. In this case, the vacuum heatinsulating material 700 can be provided with a through hole 72 (a vacuumheat insulating material opening portion 71) as shown in FIG. 25.

FIG. 25 shows the first embodiment and is a pattern diagram showing thevacuum heat insulating material 7 used for the heat insulating partitionof the refrigerator 100. In this case, the core material 5 is providedwith the core material opening portion 51, the outer cover material 4 isprovided with the outer cover material opening portion 41 which issmaller than the core material opening portion 51 with a sealing portionbeing necessary for sealing, and thereby the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 having the vacuum heat insulating material opening portion 71can be obtained. At this time, the through hole 72 which is the vacuumheat insulating material opening portion 71 of the vacuum heatinsulating material 700 is sufficient to be a through hole having a holediameter being larger than a diameter of a piping such as a suction pipeor a discharge pipe, etc. or lead wires for control or for power source,etc. which are desired to penetrate the heat insulating wall, or thethrough hole 72 can be a shape of notch.

Further, the example case shows that the vacuum heat insulating material700 of the present embodiment is provided with the through hole 72 whichis the vacuum heat insulating material opening portion 71 at a differentlocation from the folded portion 55, 56; however, the through hole 72can be provided so as to penetrate the folded portion 55, 56 by apiping, etc. At this time, by providing the core material through hole52 which is the core material opening portion 51 at the portion of thefolded portion 55, 56, the vacuum heat insulating material 7 having thethrough hole can be obtained easily.

Namely, the refrigerator 100 of the present embodiment includes aplurality of storage rooms 150, 200, 300, 400, and 500 including therefrigerating room 150 and the freezing room 300, etc. provided with theopening/closing or drawer type doors 160, 210, 310, 410, and 510; thecooler 650 arranged at the rear surface side of the storage roomsthrough the partition wall for generating cooling air to the storagerooms; the internal fan 660 for blowing the cooling air generated by thecooler 650 to each storage room; the cooler room 640 arranged at therear surface side of the storage rooms through the partition wall forcontaining the cooler and the internal fan; the machine room 601arranged at the lower part or the upper part of the refrigerator 100 forcontaining the compressor 600 which forms the refrigerating cycle; theheat insulating wall arranged between the machine room 601 and thecooler room 640; the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 which isprovided at either of the doors of the storage rooms, the heatinsulating wall, structured by lamination structure of the organic fiberassembly 1 made by the sheet-shaped organic fiber 2, and formed byinserting the core material 5 having a cutting portion, of which the endface has been cut, into the outer cover material 4, and sealing thesealing portion of the outer cover material around the sheet so as tohermetically seal the inside with almost vacuum status. In the above,the long fiber having at least the same length as the organic fiberassembly 1 is used for the organic fiber 2. Therefore, the heatinsulating performance of the heat insulating material 7, 700 is good,the recyclability is excellent, the sealing fault, etc. may not occur,and thus the reliability is high. Accordingly, equipments such as therefrigerator, etc. using this vacuum heat insulating material have alsohigh performance for a long term and good recyclability.

Here, the example case shows the vacuum heat insulating material 700 isprovided at the heat insulating wall between the machine room 601 andthe cooler room 640; however, the vacuum heat insulating materialopening portion 71 can be applied to the cooling air passage. In thiscase, the vacuum heat insulating material 700 can be used for a sectionwall, a partition wall, or a heat insulating wall having the cooling airpassage. Further, the vacuum heat insulating material can be provided atthe heat insulating wall which forms the cooler room 640.

Further, the vacuum heat insulating material 700 can be provided in theheat insulating wall of the rear surface or the side surface of therefrigerator, a concave groove (a continuous concave groove having awidth and a depth which is about the diameter of the piping such as thecooler pipe, etc.), to which a piping such as a cooler pipe can becontained, is formed by heat deposition or laser processing, the pipingsuch as the cooler pipe is arranged within the concave groove, and theheat insulating of the cooler pipe, etc. can be performed.

In particular, when at least two vacuum heat insulating materials 700,to each of which a continuous concave groove having a width of about thediameter (can be no more than the diameter) of the cooler pipe and adepth of about a half of the diameter (can be no more than the diameter)of the cooler pipe, are used, and the piping such as the cooler pipe isfixed so as to be inserted between the two concave grooves of the vacuumheat insulating materials 7, it is possible to further improve the heatinsulating performance of the piping such as the cooler pipe.Accordingly, effect of temperature increase to the storage rooms due tothe heat discharge or heat absorption of the piping such as the coolerpipe can be reduced and an energy-saving refrigerator 100 can beobtained.

When the refrigerator has a drain-pan function having a drain hole forreceiving defrosted water fallen from the cooler 650 through the heatinsulating wall between the machine room 601 and the cooler room 640 anddischarging the defrosted water to the outside of the refrigerator 100or the machine room 601, since the vacuum heat insulating material 701of the present invention includes the vacuum heat insulating materialopening portion 71, the vacuum heat insulating material 700 can bearranged so that the location of the vacuum heat insulating materialopening portion 71 is almost matched with the one of the drain hole.

Here, in general, when resin foam is filled between the external box 9and the internal box 10, a gas discharge hole is necessary for fillingthe resin foam. However, conventionally, when the vacuum heat insulatingpanel is arranged at the heat insulating wall between the external boxand the internal box, the gas discharge hole should be arranged withavoiding the arranged area of the vacuum heat insulating panel, so thatthe resin foam cannot be filled sufficiently within the heat insulatingbox body, which may cause manufacturing failure. Then, it is consideredthat another gas discharge hole is arranged at the internal box;however, this is not sufficient, so that it is considered that thevacuum heat insulating material is adhered to the internal box; however,it is difficult to adhere the vacuum heat insulating material to aninside surface having irregularities of the internal box. Accordingly,because of necessity of securing the gas discharge hole between thevacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 and the external box, it isconsidered that a spacer is provided for making the vacuum heatinsulating material float from the external box so as not to shut thegas discharge hole; however, in this case, the spacer is necessary, thecost should be increased, and further the assemblability may bedegraded.

On the other hand, according to the present invention, it is easy toform the vacuum heat insulating material opening portion 71 of thevacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 such as a through hole or anotch, and the vacuum heat insulating material opening portion 71 can bearranged at almost the same location as the gas discharge hole of theexternal box, so that the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 can beadhered to the surface of the external box which is the gap between theexternal box and the internal box so as not to shut the gas dischargehole without providing the spacer, etc. Further, since the vacuum heatinsulating material 7, 700 of the present invention can be folded into acomplex shape, it is possible to adhere the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, 700 easily to the inside surface having irregularities ofthe internal box which is the gap between the external box and theinternal box. Therefore, the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 ofthe present invention can be adhered between the external box 9 and thevacuum heat insulating material 7, 700, and the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, 700 of the present invention can be also adhered between theinternal box 10 and the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 withoutproviding the spacer, etc., so that it is possible to obtain the heatinsulating box or the refrigerator having good heat insulatingperformance with a low cost.

Here, the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 of the presentinvention can be provided for the heat insulating material of thestorage room door such as the refrigerating room door 160, the switchingroom door 210, the freezing room door 310, the vegetable room door 410,the ice making room door 510, etc. In this case, if the heat insulatingmaterial is penetrated by a screw, etc. for fixing a handling part suchas a handle provided at the storage room door, the vacuum heatinsulating material opening portion 71 of the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 700 can be arranged at almost the same location as the locationof the screw portion for fixing the handle. Further, since the heatinsulating performance of the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 ofthe present invention is good, it is possible to manufacture the vacuumheat insulating material 7, 700 to be thin, so that the vacuum heatinsulating material is applicable to the heat insulation of the topplate of the refrigerator 100.

Here, the vacuum heat insulating material opening portion 71 is formedby sealing the outer cover material 4 around the core material openingportion 51 with the sealing portion (the sealing area 75), and thencutting an unnecessary portion without the core material 5 inside of thesealing portion (the sealing area 75) of the outer cover material 4, andas a result, the through hole 72 is formed on the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, 700. At this time, in the vacuum heat insulating material 7,700, the unnecessary portion without the core material 5 inside of thesealing portion (the sealing area 75) can remain as it is without beingcut so as to be the vacuum heat insulating material opening portion 71.In this case, the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 does not havethe through hole 72 in the vacuum heat insulating material openingportion 71; however, the unnecessary portion without the core material 5inside of the sealing portion (the sealing area 75) of the outer covermaterial 4 corresponds to the vacuum heat insulating material openingportion 71.

Therefore, in case of using the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700including the core material opening portion 51 but without the vacuumheat insulating material opening portion 72, when it is used forequipments such as the heat insulating box or the refrigerator as it iswithout forming the through hole 72, after mounting the vacuum heatinsulating material to the equipments such as the heat insulating box orthe refrigerator at a range which does not cause effect to the sealingproperty of the sealing portion 75, it becomes possible to do the holeformation or to do screwing, so that the through hole formation of theouter cover material 4 becomes unnecessary, and thus the vacuum heatinsulating material, or the equipments such as the heat insulating box,the refrigerator, etc. can be obtained with a low cost.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, in case of using thevacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 including the core materialopening portion 51 in the core material but without having the vacuumheat insulating material opening portion 72 in the heat insulatingmaterial, when it is used for heat insulating material of a wall of ahouse, conventionally, for a through hole for a refrigerating piping ora drain piping of an air-conditioner, in most cases a hole formation isdone at the time of mounting the air-conditioner after completing thehouse so as to match the location where the air-conditioner is placed.However, the location where the air-conditioner is placed, take-outpositions of the refrigerant piping or the drain piping can be estimatedpreviously with some degree. Accordingly, the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, 700 having the core material opening portion 51 in the corematerial but without having the heat insulating material opening portion72 in the vacuum heat insulating material is placed around the estimatedtake-out positions of the refrigerant piping or the drain piping, andthus take-off for the refrigerating piping and the drain piping bycarrying out the hole formation at the portion of the heat insulatingmaterial opening portion 72 of the vacuum heat insulating material 7,700 after completing the house. In this way, even if the air-conditioneris not mounted at that place, since the outer cover material 4 isprovided at the through hole 72, the inside and the outside of the houseare not penetrated through, and the heat insulating performance, etc.would not be seriously degraded.

As for the vacuum heat insulating material 700 of the presentembodiment, the folded portions 55, 56 and the through hole 72 which isthe vacuum heat insulating material opening portion 71 can be formed atthe same time on one sheet of the vacuum heat insulating material, sothat it is easy to shape when applied to a wall having a complex shapesuch as the heat insulating wall or the partition wall between themachine room 601 and the cooler room 640 of the refrigerator 100, andfurther easy to apply to the portion having the through hole portionsuch as the piping, the lead wires, or the drain hole providedpenetrating the heat insulating wall or a portion having a screw portionfor fixing the handling portion. In this case, by providing both of thefolded portion 55, 56 and the core material opening portion 51 at thecore material 5, it is possible to obtain the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, which has the opening portion and for which folding processcan be done easily. Therefore, it is possible to obtain energy-savingand low-cost refrigerator and equipments having good heat insulatingefficiency, cooling efficiency, usability, and processability.

FIGS. 26 and 27 show the first embodiment. FIG. 26 is a pattern diagramshowing the core material 5 of a vacuum heat insulating material 701.FIG. 27 is a pattern diagram showing the vacuum heat insulating material701 used for heat insulating of the compressor 600 or the hot water tankof the water heater.

Since the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700, the core material 5and the organic fiber assembly 1, etc. which have been explained in thepresent embodiment are used for the vacuum heat insulating material 701,the core material 5, the organic fiber assembly 1, etc., the heatinsulating performance is excellent.

In the figures, the core material 5 used for the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 701 is structured by laminated structure of the non-woven clothsheets which are the organic fiber assembly 1. On the core material 5,by the heat roller or the laser processing using which the heatdeposited portion such as the embossing 110 is provided, a plurality ofthe folded portions 55 (for example, the hole formation or the grooveformation by welding) such as shallow and small hole formation (or thecontinuous groove formation) within a range of not penetrating butobtaining the heat insulating performance with a predetermined intervalor a necessary interval. Accordingly the vacuum heat insulating material701 can be folded easily with a predetermined angle after completion bythe folded portion 55 of the core material 5, and thus it is possible tosurely fold at the desired portion and suppress the undesired portionfrom being folded or deformed.

According to the present embodiment, the core material 5 is providedwith a plurality of the folded portions 55, to which a plurality of holeformations (or continuous groove formation) with a thick interval(having an interval and a depth necessary for being folded) with somedegree in the width direction, in the length direction of the foldedportion 55 with a predetermined interval or a necessary interval. Byfolding with the folded portion 55, the vacuum heat insulating material701 having an almost cylinder shape can be obtained. The vacuum heatinsulating material 701 is used for heat insulation of an almostcylinder shaped container such as heat insulation of an outercircumference portion of a hermetic container of the compressor 600 ofthe refrigerator 100 or the refrigerating/air-conditioner, etc. or heatinsulation of an outer circumference portion of a hot water tank of thewater heater.

At this time, the size, the groove width, or the depth, etc. of thefolded portion 55 is determined appropriately by experiment based on afolding angle or a folding amount, etc. Further, if the folded portion55 is provided at a place to be folded on both sides of the corematerial 5 within a range of not penetrating, the foldability isincreased, and the folding process with a large angle can be done. Inaddition, since the folded portion 55 does not penetrate the corematerial 5, the heat insulating performance can be maintained. If laserprocessing is used, it is easy to do a curved face formation or a holeformation of a complex shape. Further, since the temperature increase atthe time of melting can be controlled, the hole formation or thecontinuous groove formation can be done with necessary size, width, ordepth at only a necessary portion. If this laser processing is appliedto the embossing 110, the heat roller becomes unnecessary to prepare,facility investment can be reduced, and thus it is possible to obtainthe vacuum heat insulating material 701, and equipments such as therefrigerator 100, the refrigerating/air-conditioner, the water heater,etc. with a low cost.

Further, as for the vacuum heat insulating material 701 of the presentembodiment, the example case shows that the folded portion 55 formed atthe core material 5 and the through hole 72 which is the vacuum heatinsulating material opening portion 71 are provided at separate places;however, the through hole 72 can be formed to penetrate the foldedportion 55, 56 with the piping, etc. In this case, by forming the corematerial through hole 52 which is the core material opening portion 51at the folded portion 55, 56 of the core material 5, it is easy toobtain the vacuum heat insulating material 701 having the through hole.

Here, the vacuum heat insulating material 700 of the present embodimentis not necessarily provided at the heat insulating wall between thecompressor 600 and the cooler 650, but can be provided at the heatinsulating wall between the control board containing room 910 in whichthe control board 900, etc. are contained and the storage rooms such asthe refrigerating room 150. In this case, the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, 700 of which processability is easy, the degree of freedomin arrangement is high, and the heat insulating performance is high, canbe used, so that no condensation occurs in the control board containingroom 910,

and thus the refrigerator 100 of high performance and high reliabilitycan be obtained. Further, it is also effective to provide at the heatinsulating wall or the partition wall which requires the heat insulatingperformance between the storage rooms or between the cooler room 640 andthe storage rooms. Further, since the vacuum heat insulating material 7,700 of the present embodiment is excellent in the heat insulatingperformance, it can be thinned, and also the opening portion which hasbeen folded can be processed easily, so that it is applicable to the toppanel, the partition board, and the air passage of the refrigerator 100.

Here, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 25 to 27, the corematerial 5 is provided with the through hole 52 and the notch 53, whichare the core material opening portions 51, and the vacuum heatinsulating material 701 is provided with the through hole 72 and thenotch 73, which are the vacuum heat insulating material opening portions71. In this case, the through hole 52 and the notch 53 are formed on thecore material 5, and the through hole 72 and the notch 73 which aresmaller than the through hole 52 and the notch 53 with sealing amountnecessary for sealing are formed on the outer cover material 4, andthereby the vacuum heat insulating material 701 having the vacuum heatinsulating material through hole and the vacuum heat insulating materialnotch, which are the vacuum heat insulating material opening portions71, can be obtained. Here, since according to the present embodiment, asdiscussed above, a predetermined size of sheet, which is made of thelaminated structure of the organic fiber assembly 1 formed bylong-fibered organic fiber and cut with the end surface, is used for thecore material 5, and thus there seldom occurs protrusion or coming-outof the remaining fiber 2 a caused by cutting of the end face.Accordingly, the remaining fiber 2 a would not protrude and inserted tothe sealing portion of the outer cover material 4 to degrade the sealingproperty. It is possible to shorten the sealing area 75 of the outercover material 4, and further to obtain highly reliable vacuum heatinsulating material which does not cause to degrade the sealing propertywith a low cost. Further, similarly, it is also possible to shorten thesealing area 75 of the through hole 52, 72 or the notch 73, and thuswhen it is mounted to the equipments such as the heat insulating box orthe refrigerator, etc., the through hole 52, 72 can be used largely, sothat the vacuum heat insulating material with a good usability can beobtained. Or, on the contrary, the sealing area 75 of the outer covermaterial 4 can be decreased its size, and thus the hole diameter of thethrough hole 52, 72 or the opening width (length) of the notch 53, 73which is the core material opening portion 51 can be reduced.Consequently, if the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700, 701 has thethrough hole 52, 72 or the notch 53, 73, it is possible to havesufficiently large core material 5, so that the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial having a good heat insulating performance can be obtained.

The vacuum heat insulating material 701 is used for heat insulation foran almost cylinder-shaped container such as heat insulation around anexternal circumference of a hermetic container of the compressor 600 ofthe refrigerator 100 or the refrigerating/air-conditioner, etc. or heatinsulation around an external circumference of the hot water tank of thewater heater. (The vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700, 701 isarranged so as to cover at least a part of the circumference of thealmost cylinder-shaped container.) At this time, the through hole 72 orthe notch 73 which is the vacuum heat insulating material openingportion 71 of the vacuum heat insulating material 701 can be a shape ofa through hole or a notch having a larger hole diameter than a piping ora lead wire to penetrate; that is, for example, the piping such as thesuction piping or the discharge piping, a lead wire for control, or alead wire for power source, etc. which is desired to penetrate thevacuum heat insulating material 701.

Further, in a heat pump water heater including a container having analmost rectangular cube shape or an almost cylindrical shape, an almostcylindrical hot water tank contained in the container and for reservingwater or hot water, a heat source equipment for heating the water of thehot water tank having a refrigerating cycle for heating the water of thehot water tank (for example, a refrigerating cycle connecting acompressor, a first heat exchanger (a heat exchanger for heating water),a squeezer, and a second heat exchanger (an evaporator) to form acircle), it is unnecessary to arrange the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, 700, 701 around the hot water tank so as to directly coverthe hot water tank. By arranging the vacuum heat insulating material 7,700, 701 of the present invention at all of or at least a part of aninside wall of a cabinet to cover the inside wall of the cabinet, theheat insulating effect inside of the cabinet can be improved, and thusit is possible to maintain the temperature of the hot water in the hotwater tank at a predetermined temperature for a long term, and theenergy-saving water heating apparatus (the water heater) can beobtained. Further, the noise reduction can be done, and yet further therecyclabiilty becomes good.

Further, in a refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus or a water heaterwhich is formed by connecting a compressor, a cooler (or a gas cooler),a decompressor, and an evaporator in series, in which R410A, carbondioxide (CO2), flammable refrigerant (HC refrigerant, etc.), low GWPrefrigerant (R32 or HFO refrigerant) being slightly flammable, etc. areused, if in a cabinet having the almost rectangular cube of an outdoorunit or a heat source equipment, etc, a partition wall is arranged forpartitioning a fan room containing the fan and a machine room containingthe compressor, the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700, 701 of thepresent invention can be applied or can be formed with the cabinet asone body. In this case, the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700, 701is desired to apply on the front surface of the internal face of thecabinet; and the vacuum heat insulating material can be applied to fivefaces except the bottom face (the front face, two side faces (includingthe partition wall), the back face, and the top face), at least one faceof the cabinet, or to a part of one of the faces. At this time, in caseof using the conventional vacuum heat insulating material, it isdifficult to pull out the piping or lead wires such as the suctionpiping, discharge piping, the refrigerating piping or the hot waterpiping, or the control lead wire for controlling the compressor or thewater temperature. However, according to the present invention, it iseasy to pull them out from the opening portion 71 of the heat insulatingmaterial 700, 701 to the outside of the cabinet. This enables to improvethe heat insulating performance of the compressor or obtain the effectof noise prevention.

Further, when the slightly flammable low GWP refrigerant (refrigeranthaving a low global warming potential such as R32, HFO refrigerant,etc.) is used, if non-ignitable flame-retardant material is used for theouter cover material 4 of the vacuum heat insulating material of thepresent embodiment, even if refrigerant leakage occurs, since the vacuumheat insulating material is non-ignitable, the ignition of the apparatuscan be suppressed, and thus it is possible to obtain safe equipmentssuch as the water heater, the refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus,etc.

Further, in the container having the almost rectangular cubic shape, thepartition wall for partitioning the fan room for containing the fan andthe machine room for containing the compressor is provided, since atleast a part of the inside (or the outside) of the machine room iscovered by the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700, or all or atleast a part of the surrounding of the almost cylindrical compressor iscovered, the temperature of hot water or the heating performance can beimproved, and thus it is possible to provide the energy efficientrefrigerator, the refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus, orequipments.

Further, for equipments such as a refrigerator, an automatic vendingmachine, a cool box, a water heater, a refrigerating/air-conditioningapparatus, etc. having an almost cylindrical compressor, by covering allor at least a part of the surrounding of the almost cylindricalcompressor with the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 of thepresent invention, the heat insulating effect is improved, further thenoise reduction can be made, and yet further, the recyclability becomesgood.

Further, in a heat source device of a heat pump water heater including arefrigerating cycle, as discussed above, a partition wall is provided inan almost rectangular cubic cabinet for partitioning a fan roomcontaining a fan and a machine room containing a compressor, and if thecabinet is structured to have a gas cooler arranged at the bottomportion or the side portion of the fan room or the machine room, all ofthe internal surface of the machine room or at least a part of theinside (or the outside) of the machine room is provided and covered withthe vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 of the present invention, orall or at least a part of the surrounding of the almost cylindricalcompressor is covered. Accordingly, it is possible to feed high-pressurerefrigerant gas compressed by the compressor to the gas cooler or thecooler without heat loss, the temperature of hot water or the heatingperformance can be improved, and thus it is possible to provide theenergy efficient heat pump water heater or the calorifier. Further, byproviding the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 of the presentinvention inside of the cabinet, there is also an effect to reduce thenoise of the fan or the compressor.

Further, if the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 of the presentinvention is used for the heat insulating material for an almostcylindrical container such as a jar pot, etc., since the heat insulatingperformance is improved, it is possible to keep the contents hot forlong hours, and thus equipments such as the jar pot with high energyefficiency can be obtained.

Here, if insulating plastic laminated film is used for the outer covermaterial 4 of the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700, when thevacuum heat insulating material is used for the insulating material forneighborhood of the lead wire for control or the lead wire for powersource or when the lead wire for control or the lead wire for powersource, etc. is used as the insulating material by penetrating throughthe vacuum heat insulating material opening portion 71, the vacuum heatinsulating material functions also as the insulating material, and thusit is possible to obtain safe vacuum heat insulating material 700, 701with high heat insulating performance, and the equipments using the heatinsulating material 700, 701 such as the heat insulating box, thecompressor 600, the automatic vending machine, the cool box, therefrigerator 100, the water heater, and therefrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus, etc. In particular, if usedfor the heat insulating material for neighborhood of a portion whereelectric appliances are arranged such as a power source connecting unitor a control board, it is possible to obtain an effect to providefurther safe equipments.

Further, for the equipments such as the refrigerator 100, the waterheater, the refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus, etc. of thepresent invention, to facilitate visual understanding of the portion towhich the vacuum heat insulating material is arranged at the time ofdemolishing or recycling, an overall view or a partial view such as across section, a development view, a cubic diagram, a perspective view,etc. of the whole equipment is shown on the rear surface or the sidesurface of the body of the equipment (in case of the refrigerator 100,the rear surface or the side surface of the refrigerator body; in caseof the water heater, the side surface or the rear surface of the heatsource device, the surrounding of the hot water tank, in case of theelectric water heater, the surrounding of the tank, etc.) of the powersource box, etc. Accordingly, by showing the arrangement location of thevacuum heat insulating material, the arrangement location of the getteragents, the arrangement location of the adsorption agent, etc.,information being useful at the time of demolishing or recycling theequipments is made understandable visually and instantly.

Further, if the size and thickness of the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial used, the type or fabric weight of the core material of thevacuum heat insulating material, etc. are also shown, it is possible toeasily grasp the quantity or the type of the re-usable core material atthe time of recycling.

Further, the material name or the quantity of the core material 5 of thevacuum heat insulating material 7 used in the equipment is shown andthat the organic fiber is used for the core material 5 instead of theglass fiber is also shown. For example, by displaying “Glass fiber isnot used for the core material of the vacuum heat insulating materialused in this product. Since organic fiber (for example, PET) is used forthe core material, glass fiber fragments never appear at the time ofdisassembling or demolishing for recycling the product.” and so on, itis possible to obtain the refrigerator 100, the water heater, and theequipments for which disassembling or demolishing is easily done.Therefore, if the core material 5 (organic fiber) of the vacuum heatinsulating material 7 is mixed with urethane waste, etc. at the time ofrecycling and is supplied to thermal recycle, the combustion efficiencyof the thermal recycle is not decreased, and the generation of residueis suppressed, so that it is possible to obtain the equipments having agood recyclability such as the refrigerator 100, the water heater, therefrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus, etc. Further, since powderdust due to the shredded glass fiber is not generated at the time ofdisassembling or demolishing, it is possible to prevent sucking of suchpowder dust or sticking of the powder dust to the skin, and thus adverseeffect to human body can be suppressed.

As has been explained, according to the present embodiment, since theorganic fiber assembly 1 of continuous long fibers is used for the corematerial 5, it is possible to secure the length of remaining fibergenerated by the cutting remained on the cutting portion of thenon-woven cloth sheet (for example, the cutting portion of the end faceof the sheet or the cutting portion of the hole forming or the notchforming) to be long. Accordingly, it is possible to suppress theremaining fiber from coming out of the end face of the cutting portion,and thus there is no protrusion, etc. of the remaining fiber generatedby cutting from the cutting portion when the short fibers are used forthe core material. Therefore, the sealing property is not degraded bythe remaining fiber protruded from the sealed portion when the corematerial 5 is inserted in the outer cover material 4 and sealed.Further, the non-woven cloth of the organic fibers 2 is used for thecore material 5, it is possible to provide the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 of which the processability, usability, heat insulatingperformance, and productivity are excellent, and the equipments havingthe vacuum heat insulating material 7 such as the heat insulating box,the automatic vending machine, the cool box, the refrigerator 100, thewater heater, the refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus, etc.

Further, in the present embodiment, since the organic fibers 2 is usedfor the core material 5 of the vacuum heat insulating material 7,compared with the conventional case where the hard and brittle glassfiber is used as the core material, it is possible to prevent flowing ofpowder dust and sticking to skin/mucous membranes of a worker to givestimulus, and thus the usability and the workability are improved.

Further, in the present embodiment, when plural non-woven cloth sheetsof the organic fiber assembly 1 are laminated and used for the corematerial 5, even if the number of laminated sheets is large and aftervacuuming the sheet becomes hard and is not easily folded, by providingthe folded portion 55, 56 at the portion which is desired to be folded,the sheet is made easily foldable. Accordingly, it is possible to foldonly the portion which is desired to be folded, and prevent fromdeforming a portion which is not desired to be folded. Therefore, it ispossible to obtain the highly reliable vacuum heat insulating material7, and the equipments having the vacuum heat insulating material 7 suchas the heat insulating box, the automatic vending machine, the cool box,the refrigerator 100, the water heater, therefrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus, etc.

Further, since the organic fiber 2 is used for the core material 5 ofthe vacuum heat insulating material 7, compared with the conventionalcase where the hard and brittle glass fiber is used as the corematerial, it is possible to prevent flowing of powder dust and stickingto skin/mucous membranes of a worker to give stimulus, and thus theusability and the workability are improved.

Further, in the present embodiment, plural non-woven cloth sheets of theorganic fiber assembly 1 using the long fiber are laminated and used forthe core material 5, even if the hole formation or the notch formationis provided on the vacuum heat insulating material 7, fiber fragmentwould not intrude nor be inserted in the sealing portion. Therefore, itis possible to provide the vacuum heat insulating material 7 for whichthe core material 5 which is easy to carry out the hole formation or thenotch formation and has a good sealing property and an easy usability,and equipments having the vacuum heat insulating material 7 such as theheat insulating box, the automatic vending machine, the cool box, therefrigerator 100, the water heater, the refrigerating/air-conditioningapparatus, etc.

Further, in the present embodiment, the core material 5 of the vacuumheat insulating material 7 is provided with a concave groove having analmost similar shape to the piping shape (a concave groove having analmost circular cross section) using the heat roller or laserprocessing, etc., and the piping is arranged to the concave groove.Accordingly, it is possible to obtain the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7 in which the heat leakage from the piping is less, and theequipments having the vacuum heat insulating material 7 such as the heatinsulating box, the automatic vending machine, the cool box, therefrigerator 100, the water heater, the refrigerating/air-conditioningapparatus, etc.

The vacuum heat insulating material of the present invention can beapplied to the wall, the ceiling, or the floor surface of a housing or astore, etc. Since the glass material is not used for the core material 5in the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 of the present invention,at the time of constructing or demolishing the housing, it is possibleto prevent flowing of powder dust of the glass fiber and sticking toskin/mucous membranes of a worker to give stimulus, and thus theusability, the workability, and the safeness, and the recyclability areimproved. Further, it is possible to provide the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial opening portion 71, the vacuum heat insulating material can beeasily provided or arranged at the pulling-out portion of therefrigerant piping or the lead wire for control, a ventilating openingportion, the pulling-out portion of the power source wire, the watersupply piping, or the drainage piping of therefrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus such as the air-conditioner,etc., or the pulling-out portion of wiring for telephone or theInternet. Further, since the folding processing is easy, it is easy toapply to a curved surface or a bended portion.

From the above, in the present embodiment, the core material 5structured by the laminated structure of the organic fiber assembly 1made by forming the organic fiber 2 into a sheet shape and having acutting portion on which the end face (for example, the end face 5 a) iscut so as to obtain a predetermined length (for example, the corematerial 5 structured by the laminated structure of the organic fiberassembly 1 made by forming the organic fiber 2 into a sheet shape andcutting the end face 1 a, or the core material 5 structured by afterlaminating the organic fiber assembly 1 made by the organic fibers 2formed into a sheet shape, cutting the end face 5 a with thepredetermined length (or the width); a gas-barrier outer cover material4 containing the core material 5 inside, having a sealing portion 45 forsealing surrounding of the cutting portion within a range being longerthan the cutting portion (for example, the end face 5 a) of the corematerial 5 with a sealing length amount; and the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, 700, 701 in which the inside of the outer cover material 4is hermetically sealed by sealing the sealing portion 45 of the outercover material 4 are included. Since the long fiber having the same orlonger than the length (or the width) of the core material 5 of whichthe end face is cut (or the sheet of which the end face is cut) is usedfor the organic fiber 2, the remaining fiber 2 a does not protrude fromthe cutting face (the end face 5 a) of the end face of the sheet of thecore material 5 facing to the sealing portion 45, and the sealingfailure, etc. would not occur. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain thehigh-performance and highly reliable vacuum heat insulating material 7,700, 701 which does not generate the sealing failure, etc., therecyclability is good, and the heat insulating performance is hardlydegraded.

Further, the core material 5 structured by a laminated structure of theorganic fiber assembly 1 made by forming the organic fiber 2 into asheet shape and cutting the end face 1 a so as to become a predeterminedlength, or the core material 5 structured by after laminating theorganic fiber assembly 1 which is the organic fiber 2 formed into asheet shape, and cutting the end face 5 a so as to become apredetermined length (or the width), and having the core materialopening portion 51 provided with the opening portion such as the throughhole 52 and the notch 53, etc. by cutting, the gas-barrier outer covermaterial 4 containing the core material 5 inside, having the sealingportion 45, 78 for sealing the surrounding of the end face 1 a, 5 a andthe surrounding of the core material opening portion 51 of the corematerial 5 (or the sheet-shaped organic fiber assembly 1), andhermetically sealing the inside in an almost vacuum status by sealingthe sealing portion 78; and the outer cover material opening portion 41such as the through hole or the notch, etc. provided at the outer covermaterial 4 with a status in which the sealing portion 45, 78 providedaround the end face 1 a, 5 a and around the core material openingportion 51 of the core material 5 (or the sheet-shaped organic fiberassembly 1) having the hole diameter (for example, the diameter) or thelength (or the width) of the opening portion being smaller than the corematerial opening portion 51 with the length of the sealing area 75 areincluded. Accordingly, since the long fiber having the length being thesame or longer than the length (or the width) of the sheet of the corematerial 5 of which the end face 1 a, 5 a is cut is used for the organicfiber 2, that is, the long fiber (for example, the continuous fiber orthe fiber having the length being the same or longer than the length ofthe sheet) is used, if the core material opening portion 51 such as thethrough hole or the notch is provided by cutting (cutoff), fiber wasteof a cut fiber 2 b cut by cutting or the remaining fiber 2 a on theremaining portion of the sheet does not protrude, the sealing failuredoes not occur, and thus it is possible to obtain the vacuum heatinsulating material 7, 700, 701 of which recyclability is good and theheat insulating performance is not degraded and the heat insulating boxand the equipments using the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700,701.

Further, the thickness of the organic fiber assembly 1 is, when theorganic fiber assembly is contained inside of the gas-barrier container(the outer cover material 4) with an almost vacuum state(decompressurized state), at least three times and no more than eighteentimes of the fiber diameter of the organic fibers 2, and thus the heatinsulating performance is improved compared with a case using thecottonlike fiber for the core material 5. Further, the productivity isalso improved, so that it is possible to obtain highly reliable vacuumheat insulating material 7 having high heat insulating performance witha low cost.

Further, the organic fiber assembly 1 is formed in a sheet-shape byapplying heat deposition on continuous organic fiber 2, and an area ofthe heat deposited portion is made no more than 20%, preferably no morethan 15% of an area of the sheet and thus while maintaining the handlingstrength, it is possible to obtain reelable long-fibered non-woven clothhaving high heat insulating performance and the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7.

Further, the organic fiber assembly 1 is formed in a sheet-shape byapplying heat deposition on continuous organic fiber 2, and the fabricweight of the non-woven cloth which is the organic fiber assembly 1 isat least 4.7 g/m² and no more than 70 g/m², or at least 140 g/m² and nomore than 198 g/m² and the heat deposited portion is made to penetratefrom the front surface to the rear surface of the organic fiber assembly1 in the thickness direction of the sheet. Accordingly, it is possibleto obtain the non-woven cloth, the heat insulating material 7, the heatinsulating box, the equipments using the heat insulating material 7 suchas the refrigerator 100, the water heater, the jar pot, etc., whichsecure necessary heat insulating performance, is easy to manufacture,and has excellent recyclability. Further, it is possible to obtain theheat insulating material 7 of which the core material 5 has a goodusability and has high heat insulating performance.

Further, the organic fiber assembly 1 is formed in a sheet-shape byapplying heat deposition on continuous organic fiber 2, and the fabricweight of the non-woven cloth which is the organic fiber assembly 1 isat least 4.7 g/m² and no more than 100 g/m², and the heat depositedportion is made not to penetrate from the front surface to the rearsurface of the organic fiber assembly 1. Accordingly, it is possible toobtain the non-woven cloth, the heat insulating material 7, the heatinsulating box, the equipments using the heat insulating material 7 suchas the refrigerator 100, the water heater, the jar pot, etc., whichsecure necessary heat insulating performance, is easy to manufacture,and has excellent recyclability. Further, it is possible to obtain theheat insulating material 7 of which the core material 5 has a goodusability and has high heat insulating performance

Further, the fabric weight of unwoven cloth being the organic fiberassembly 1 is made at least 85 g/m² and not more than 198 b/m² so as tosuppress deformation of the organic fiber assembly 1 due to thetemperature or compression force at the time of vacuum forming.Therefore, the thickness of one sheet becomes thick enough to suppressstrain, and thus the stiffness against the compression is obtained.Since deformation hardly occurs at the time of vacuum forming, shapedefect due to the deformation does not occur, and the highly reliablevacuum heat insulating material 7 can be obtained.

Further, if the heat insulating performance is emphasized more (if theheat conductivity is desired to be no more than 0.002 [W/mK] which isequivalent to the conventional one using the glass fiber for the corematerial), the fabric weight of the non-woven cloth sheet (the organicfiber assembly 1) can be made at least 4.7 [g/m²] and no more than 26[g/m²], and it is expected to improve the heat insulating performance.Further, if deformation (compressive strain) is desired to besuppressed, the fabric weight of the non-woven cloth sheet can be madeat least 110 [g/m²] and no more than the fabric weight of the case inwhich the number of lamination is one (no more than 198 [g/m²], forexample), and thus the vacuum heat insulating material with lessdeformation and good usability can be obtained. Further, if it isdesired to suppress the deformation (compressive strain) of thenon-woven cloth sheet and further improve the heat insulatingperformance to some extent (if the heat conductivity is desired to be nomore than 0.003 [W/mK] which is equivalent to the conventional one usingthe cottonlike fiber for the core material), the fabric weight of thenon-woven cloth sheet is made at least 140 [g/m²] and no more than 198[g/m²], and thus the vacuum heat insulating material can be obtained, ofwhich deformation (compressive strain) is small, of which the corematerial has a good usability, and has high heat insulating performance.

Further, the core material 5 structured by a laminated structure of theorganic fiber assembly 1 made by forming the organic fiber into a sheetshape and applying heat deposition, and having a cutting portion inwhich the end face 5 a is cut so as to be a predetermined length, agas-barrier outer cover material 4 containing the core material 5inside, having a sealing portion 78 for sealing surrounding of thecutting portion with a range of being larger than the cutting portion ofthe core material 5 with the sealing length (the sealing area 75), thevacuum heat insulating material 7, 700, 701 in which the inside of theouter cover material 4 is hermetically sealed in almost vacuum status bysealing the sealing portion 45, 78 of the outer cover material 4 areincluded. The thickness of the fiber assembly (the non-woven clothsheet) 1 is made at least 3 times and no more than 18 times of theaverage fiber diameter, the fabric weight of the fiber assembly (thenon-woven cloth sheet) is made at least 4.7 g/m² and no more than 70g/m², and the range to which the heat deposited portion is provided inthe fiber assembly (the non-woven cloth sheet) is made no more than 20%of the sheet area (preferably, no more than 8%). Thus it is possible toobtain the non-woven cloth, the vacuum heat insulating material, ofwhich the heat conductivity is small, the heat insulating performance ishigh, the productivity is good, easy to manufacture, the sheet usabilityis good, and the recyclability is good, and the equipments using thevacuum heat insulating material such as the heat insulating box, therefrigerator, the water heater, the jar pot, therefrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus, the showcase, etc. Further,since organic fibers 2 are heat-deposited with each other, and theorganic fiber assembly 1 hardly becomes ragged, the usability isimproved. Further, since appropriate pressure, heat deposition isapplied, it is possible to suppress the increase of the contacting areabetween the organic fibers 2, the heat conduction from the heatdeposited portion due to the increase of the heat transfer can besuppressed, and the degradation of the heat insulating performance canbe suppressed. Further, in addition to the effect to improve the heatinsulating performance, the productivity is improved, the productioncost can be reduced, so that it is possible to obtain a low-cost, highperformance, highly reliable vacuum heat insulating material, and theequipments using the vacuum heat insulating material such as the heatinsulating box, the refrigerator, the water heater, the jar pot, therefrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus, the showcase, etc.

Further, if the thickness of the organic fiber assembly 1 (the non-wovencloth sheet) is made at least 3 times and no more than 18 times of theaverage fiber diameter, the fabric weight of the organic fiber assembly1 (the non-woven cloth sheet) is made at least 98 [g/m²] (preferably, atleast 140 [g/m²]) and no more than 198 [g/m²], and the range to whichthe heat deposited portion is provided in the organic fiber assembly(the non-woven cloth sheet) is made no more than 20% of the sheet area(preferably, no more than 8%). Thus it is possible to obtain apredetermined heat insulating performance. Further it is possible toobtain the non-woven cloth, the vacuum heat insulating material, ofwhich deformation hardly occurs, the productivity is good, easy tomanufacture, the sheet usability is good, the reliability is high, andthe recyclability is good, and the equipments using the vacuum heatinsulating material such as the heat insulating box, the refrigerator,the water heater, the jar pot, the refrigerating/air-conditioningapparatus, the showcase, etc. Further, since organic fibers 2 areheat-deposited with each other, and the organic fiber assembly 1 hardlybecomes ragged, the usability is improved. Further, since appropriatepressure, heat deposition is applied, it is possible to suppress theincrease of the contacting area between the organic fibers 2, the heatconduction from the heat deposited portion due to the increase of theheat transfer can be suppressed, and the degradation of the heatinsulating performance can be suppressed. Further, in addition to theeffect to improve the heat insulating performance, the productivity isimproved, the production cost can be reduced, so that it is possible toobtain a low-cost, high performance, highly reliable vacuum heatinsulating material, and the equipments using the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial such as the heat insulating box, the refrigerator, the waterheater, the jar pot, the refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus, theshowcase, etc.

Further, since the cross sectional shape of the fiber structuring theorganic fiber assembly 1 is made modified cross-sectional shape such asan almost triangular shape or a C shape, the cross sectional shape ofthe organic fiber 2 is made an almost triangular shape having almost thesame cross section area as the fiber having an almost circular crosssection, and thereby compared with the fiber having the almost circularcross section having almost the same cross sectional area, the secondmoment of area is large and the stiffness is improved, thus thedeflection of fiber is decreased at the time of receiving atmosphericpressure, and the heat insulating performance of the vacuum heatinsulating material 7 is improved.

Further, if the cross section of the organic fiber 2 is the C shapedcross section, since the cross section is deformed to a pipe shape (ahollow almost circular shape) when compressed by pressure at the time offorming, the heat transfer becomes worse due to its pipe shape than acase of using the fiber having an almost circular cross section, andthus the heat insulating performance is improved.

Further, since the core material 5 is fowled by folding and laminatingthe organic fiber assembly 1, the folded portion is not necessary to becut, namely, the number of end faces which need to be cut can bereduced, and thus a cutting step can be saved, and the core material 5can be produced efficiently in a short time with a low cost.Accordingly, it is possible to manufacture the low-cost vacuum heatinsulating material 7, 700, and 701.

Further, since the core material 5 is laminated with combining the corematerials 5 of a plurality of types of different fabric weights,compared with a case of laminating the core materials having the samethickness, if the thickness of lamination is the same, the strain can bereduced for the core material 5 totally. Yet further, compared with acase of laminating the core materials having low fabric weight to forminto the same thickness, necessary heat insulating performance can besecured, and further, since the predetermined stiffness can be obtained,it is possible to obtain the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700, and701 having a good heat insulating performance, with less deformation,high performance, and high reliability.

Further, the core material 5 is formed by the first organic fiberassembly 1 x folded and laminated and the second organic fiber assembly1 y folded and laminated, and the first organic fiber assembly 1 x andthe second organic fiber assembly 1 y are interfolded so as to mutuallyintersect, so that the intermediate part of the sheets becomes a pointcontact, which improves the heat insulating performance more. Further,when fabric weights of the first organic fiber assembly 1 x and thesecond organic fiber assembly 1 y are different, compared with a case oflaminating the assemblies having the same thickness, if the thickness isthe same, the strain can be reduced totally as the core material 5. Inaddition, since the thickness can be reduced compared with a case oflaminating the same number of sheets of the organic fiber assembly ofwhich the fabric weight is higher, it is possible to obtain the vacuumheat insulating material 7 with a good heat insulating performance, withless thickness in the lamination, less deformation by the strain, andhigh reliability. Yet further, compared with a case of laminating thesame number of sheets having low fabric weight, necessary heatinsulating performance can be secured, and further, since thepredetermined stiffness can be obtained, it is possible to obtain thevacuum heat insulating material 7, 700, and 701 having a good heatinsulating performance, with less deformation, high performance, andhigh reliability.

Further, since the organic fiber 2 is continuous in the length or widthdirection of the organic fiber assembly 1, it is possible to maintainthe length of the remaining fiber 2 a, which is generated on the cuttingportion (for example, the end face 1 a, 5 a, the cutting portion 52 ofthe hole formation, or the cutting portion 53 of the notch formation) ofthe non-woven cloth sheet of the organic fiber assembly 1 by cutting,long. Accordingly, it is possible to suppress protrusion of theremaining fiber 2 a from the end face of the cutting portion, that is,the protrusion, etc. of the remaining fiber 2 a, which is generated onthe cutting portion by cutting in case of using the short fiber for thecore material 5, does not occur. Therefore, the sealing property is notdegraded by the remaining fiber 2 a which protrudes when the corematerial 5 is inserted into the outer cover material 4 and sealed.

Further, in the present invention, since the long fiber being continuousin the length or width direction of the organic fiber assembly 1 is usedfor the organic fiber 2, it is possible to maintain the length of theremaining fiber 2 a, which is generated on the cutting portion (forexample, the end face 1 a, 5 a, the cutting portion 52 of the holeformation, or the cutting portion 53 of the notch formation) of theorganic fiber assembly 1 (the non-woven cloth sheet) by cutting, long.Accordingly, it is possible to suppress protrusion, etc. of theremaining fiber generated on the cutting portion by cutting in case ofusing the short fiber for the core material. It is unnecessary to makethe sealing length long with considering the protrusion of the remainingfiber such as the conventional case of using the short fiber. Therefore,the length of the sealing portion of the outer cover material 4 can beshortened, and thus a compact low-cost vacuum heat insulating materialcan be obtained. Further, if the size of the outer cover material 4 isthe same, compared with the conventional case of using the short fiber,the size of the core material 5 (the length or the width of the sheet)can be increased with the protruded length (for example, about 1 mm to10 mm) of the remaining fiber, that is, a heat insulating area can bemade large, and thus the heat insulating performance is improved.

Further, since the organic fiber 2 of the organic fiber assembly 1 iseither of polyester, polystyrene, polypropylene, polylactate, aramid,and liquid polymer, the processability, the usability, the heatinsulating performance, and the productivity are excellent.

Further, the external box 9 and the internal box 10 arranged inside ofthe external box 9 are included, the vacuum heat insulating material 7of the above-discussed present embodiment is provided at the spacebetween the external box 9 and the internal box 10, so that it ispossible to obtain the heat insulating box having good processability,usability, heat insulating performance, or productivity and further thevacuum heat insulating material 7 with a good heat insulatingperformance and the refrigerator 100 having the heat insulating box.

Further, since the spacer 8 is provided between the external box 9 andthe vacuum heat insulating material 7, the heat ingression from theoutside can be insulated by the vacuum heat insulating material 7through the spacer 8, which improves the heat insulating efficiency.Further, the heat ingression into the internal box 10 is also throughurethane, etc.; that is, after insulating heat by the vacuum heatinsulating material 7 and insulating further using urethane, etc., it ispossible to reduce the heat quantity invaded into the refrigerator, andthus the heat insulating performance can be improved. Further, thestrength of the box body can be secured by the external box 9, theinternal box 10, the foam insulation 11 (urethane), and the spacer 8.

Further, the heat insulating wall between the machine room 601containing the compressor 600 and the cooler room 640 containing thecooler 650 has a Z-shape folded at two points or a complex shape foldedat least three points (W-shaped or curved-face shaped), and the corematerial 5 is provided with the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700of the present embodiment, so that it is easily form the vacuum heatinsulating material with a low cost, good recyclability, and high heatinsulating performance even if it is applied to a zigzag shape such asthe heat insulating wall of the refrigerator 100.

Further, after completing, the vacuum heat insulating material 700 canbe folded easily at the folded portion 55, 56 of the core material 5with a necessary predetermined angle, so that it is possible to form thevacuum heat insulating material 700 which can be easily processed andhas a good heat insulating performance, and thus the refrigerator 100with high heat insulating performance can be provided with a low cost.

Further, the long fiber of the organic fiber 2, having the length of atleast the length (or the width) of the core material sheet in a statuswhere the end face is cut, is used for the sheet-type core material 5 ofwhich the end face 5 a is cut so as to have a predetermined length (orthe width), the vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 is provided withthe vacuum heat insulating material opening portion 71 such as thethrough hole 72 or the notch 73, etc., and the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, 700 is arranged so that the piping connecting the vacuumheat insulating material opening portion 71 of the vacuum heatinsulating material 7, 700 and the cooler 650 passes through the vacuumheat insulating material opening portion 71 of the vacuum heatinsulating material 7, 700. Even if there is an obstacle for arrangingthe vacuum heat insulating material 7, 700 such as piping of the suctionpiping or the discharge piping, etc. or the lead wires for control orpower source, etc., it is possible to arrange the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial 7, 700 of which is the opening portion such as the through hole72 or the notch 73, etc. has easy processability, and thus it ispossible to provide the refrigerator 100 which has high degrees offreedom in arrangement and high heat insulating performance.

Further, the refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus such as theair-conditioner includes the internal unit placed indoor forconditioning indoor air and the external unit having the cabinet havinga shape of an almost rectangular cube and the partition wall forpartitioning the fan room containing the fan and the machine roomcontaining the compressor inside of the cabinet, and the vacuum heatinsulating material 7, 700, 701 of the present embodiment is provided atleast a part of the inside (the partition wall inside of the machineroom, the cabinet, or around the compressor, etc.) or the outside (thecabinet forming the machine room or the external wall of the partitionwall, etc.) of the machine room structured by the cabinet and thepartition wall, so that the heat insulating of the machine room or thecompressor can be carried out, the heating capacity can be improved, andthus it is possible to provide the refrigerating/air-conditioningapparatus or equipments.

Further, an almost cylindrical container such as the compressor 600 or atank, etc. is provided, and the above discussed vacuum heat insulatingmaterial, in which the long fiber of the organic fiber 2 having at leastthe same length as the length of the core material sheet (or the organicfiber assembly 1) of which the end face is cut is used for the corematerial 5, is formed around the almost cylindrical container, so thatit is possible to obtain the equipment with a good heat insulatingperformance.

Further, even if there is an obstacle at providing the vacuum heatinsulating material such as water heater piping such as the suction pipeor the discharge pipe or lead wires for control or power source, etc.,since the vacuum heat insulating material of which the opening portionsuch as the through hole 72 or the notch 73 can be easily processed isprovided with a low cost, the equipments of which the degree of freedomis high, having a good recyclability and high heat insulatingperformance can be supplied with a low cost.

According to the present embodiment, a method for manufacturing a vacuumheat insulating material includes: a collecting step for extrudingheat-deposited organic resin such as polyester or polystyrene, etc. in acontinuous state from a plurality of aligned nozzles and collecting on aconveyer as a plurality of organic fibers (fibers having a fiberdiameter of about at least 3 μm and no more than 15 μm); a reeling stepfor feeding the conveyer at a predetermined speed, and producing anorganic fiber assembly 1 in a reeled sheet state by applying pressurewith a roller and heat deposition (for example, embossing process); acore material processing step for making a core material 5 having apredetermined size by cutting an end face of the organic fiber assembly1 produced by the reeling step; a decompressing step for inserting thecore material 5 into an outer cover material 4 from an insertion opening4 a and decompressing an inside to an almost vacuum state; and an outercover material sealing step for sealing the insertion opening 4 a of theouter cover material 4 of which the inside is decompressed to the almostvacuum state at the decompressing step. Accordingly, continuousformation of the organic fiber can be easily done, and it is easy toform the long-fibered organic fiber assembly 1 made of continuousorganic fiber. Further, by controlling extrusion amount (dischargeamount) of the molten resin and the speed of the conveyer, it is easy tomanufacture the organic fiber assembly 1 having different thickness orthe organic fiber assembly 1 having different fabric weight. Further, bychanging the hole diameter of the nozzles, it is easy to change thefiber diameter of the organic fiber. Further, since the long-fiberedorganic fiber is used for the core material 5 or the organic fiberassembly 1, even if the end face is cut, the remaining fiber 2 a doesnot protrude from or come out of the end face to the sealing portion 45of the outer cover material 4. Thus, it is possible to obtain the highlyreliable vacuum heat insulating material in which the sealing failurehardly occurs and the degree of vacuum hardly decreases.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the method formanufacturing the vacuum heat insulating material includes: an extrudingstep for continuously extruding heated and melted organic resin such aspolyester or polystyrene, etc. in a predetermined width from a pluralityof aligned nozzles; a fiberizing step for cooling the resin continuouslyextruded from the nozzles at the extruding step and then stretching bycompressed air to fiberize, or a fiberizing step for blowinghigh-temperature air with a temperature being almost equal to a meltingtemperature of the resin from neighborhood of holes of the nozzles (forexample, beside the extruding hole of the nozzles) to the resin extrudedfrom the nozzles from the neighborhood of holes of the nozzles (besidethe holes) and a fiber collecting step for collecting a plurality oforganic fibers (fibers having a fiber diameter of about at least 3 μmand no more than 15 μm) fiberized at the fiberizing step on theconveyer. Accordingly, it is possible to manufacture continuous longfibered organic fiber from the molten resin by a simple structure.Further, by controlling extrusion amount (discharge amount) of themolten resin and the speed of the conveyer, it is easy to manufacturethe organic fiber assembly 1 having different thickness or the organicfiber assembly 1 having different fabric weight. Further, by changingthe hole diameter of the nozzles, it is easy to change the fiberdiameter of the organic fiber.

Further, according to the manufacturing method of the vacuum heatinsulating material of the present embodiment, at the core materialprocessing step, after laminating a plurality of the organic fiberassembly 1, the end face is cut so as to form the core material 5, andthus only laminating the plurality of the organic fiber assembly 1, itis possible to easily manufacture the organic fiber assembly 1 usingcontinuous organic fiber with a predetermined size.

Further, according to the manufacturing method of the vacuum heatinsulating material of the present embodiment, at the core materialprocessing step, the organic fiber assembly 1 is reeled by the almostcylindrical roller, and after the tubular state organic fiber assembly 1is formed into sheet shape, the end face is cut so as to form the corematerial 5 of the predetermined size, and thus at the time ofmanufacturing the core material 5, only tubular opening end face needsto be cut. Since the number of cutoff portions can be reduced, it ispossible to obtain the vacuum heat insulating material which can improvethe workability with a low cost.

Further, according to the manufacturing method of the vacuum heatinsulating material of the present embodiment, since a range of the areaon which heat deposition is applied is made no more than 20%(preferably, no more than 15%, and more preferably, no more than 8%) ofthe total area of the organic fiber assembly 1, the organic fibers 2 areheat-deposited with each other, and the organic fiber assembly 1 hardlybecomes ragged, the usability is improved. Further, since appropriatepressure, heat deposition is applied, it is possible to suppress theincrease of the contacting area between the organic fibers 2, the heatconduction from the heat deposited portion due to the increase of theheat transfer can be suppressed, and the degradation of the heatinsulating performance can be suppressed.

Further, according to the manufacturing method of the vacuum heatinsulating material of the present embodiment, since the core materialis manufactured so that the fabric weight of the organic fiber assembly1 is made at least 4.7 g/m² and no more than 26 g/m², it is possible toeasily manufacture the organic fiber assembly 1 which is continuousorganic fiber. Further, since the fabric weight is made at least 4.7g/m², the organic fiber 2 would not tear even if the organic fiber 2 isreeled by the roller, and thus it is possible to obtain the continuouslong organic fiber having high reliability. Further, since the fabricweight is made no more than 26 g/m², the heat conductivity can be madeequal or no more than around 0.002 [W/mK] which is the heat conductivityof the conventional general-used vacuum heat insulating material 7 usingthe glass fiber for the core material 5, and thus it is possible toobtain the vacuum heat insulating material 7 with high heat insulatingperformance.

EXPLANATION OF SIGNS

1: an organic fiber assembly; 1 a: an end face, 1 x: the first organicfiber assembly; 1 y: the second organic fiber assembly; 2: an organicfiber 2 a: a remaining fiber; 2 b: a cutoff fiber; 2 x: an organic fiber2 y: an organic fiber; 3: an air layer; 4: an outer cover material; 5: acore material; 5 a: an end face; 6: adsorption agent; 7: a vacuum heatinsulating material; 8: a spacer; 9: an external box; 10: an internalbox; 11: a foam insulation; 12: a heat insulating wall; 41: an outercover material opening portion; 45: a sealing portion; 51: a corematerial opening portion; 52: a through hole; 53: a notch; 55: a foldedportion 56: a folded portion; 71: a vacuum heat insulating materialopening portion; 72: a through hole; 73: a notch; 75: a vacuum heatinsulating material opening portion sealing area; 100: a refrigerator;110: an embossing; 150: a refrigerating room; 160: a refrigerating roomdoor; 200: a switching room; 201: a containing case; 210: a switchingroom door; 300: a freezing room; 301: a containing case; 310: a freezingroom door; 400: a vegetable room; 401: a containing case; 410: avegetable room door; 500: an ice making room; 510: an ice making roomdoor; 600: a compressor; 601: a machine room; 640: a cooler room; 650: acooler; 660: a fan; 680: a cooling air passage; 690: an air passage;700: a vacuum heat insulating material; 701: a vacuum heat insulatingmaterial; 900: a control board; and 910: a control board containingroom.

1-27. (canceled)
 28. A vacuum heat insulating material comprising: acore material structured by a laminated structure of an organic fiberassembly made by forming an organic fiber into a sheet shape, having acutting portion where an end face is cut so as to be a predeterminedlength; and a gas-barrier outer cover material containing the corematerial inside, and having a sealing portion for sealing surroundingthe cutting portion in a range being larger than the cutting portion ofthe core material with an amount of sealing length, wherein an inside ofthe outer cover material is hermetically sealed with almost vacuumstatus by sealing the sealing portion of the outer cover material,wherein a long fiber being equal to or longer than a length of the corematerial is used for the organic fiber, wherein the organic fiberassembly is formed in a sheet-shape by applying heat deposition oncontinuous organic fiber, wherein a fabric weight of a non-woven clothwhich is the organic fiber assembly is at least 4.7 g/m² and no morethan 70 g/m², or at least 140 g/m² and no more than 198 g/m², andwherein the heat deposited portion is made to penetrate from a frontsurface to a rear surface of the organic fiber assembly.
 29. A vacuumheat insulating material comprising: a core material structured by alaminated structure of an organic fiber assembly made by forming anorganic fiber into a sheet shape, having a cutting portion where an endface is cut so as to be a predetermined length; and a gas-barrier outercover material containing the core material inside, and having a sealingportion for sealing surrounding the cutting portion in a range beinglarger than the cutting portion of the core material with an amount ofsealing length, wherein an inside of the outer cover material ishermetically sealed with almost vacuum status by sealing the sealingportion of the outer cover material, wherein a long fiber being equal toor longer than a length of the core material is used for the organicfiber, wherein the organic fiber assembly is formed in a sheet-shape byapplying heat deposition on continuous organic fiber, wherein a fabricweight of a non-woven cloth which is the organic fiber assembly is atleast 4.7 g/m² and no more than 100 g/m², and wherein the heat depositedportion is made not to penetrate from a front surface to a rear surfaceof the organic fiber assembly.
 30. The vacuum heat insulating materialof claim 28, wherein a thickness of the organic fiber assembly is, whenthe organic fiber assembly is contained inside of the gas-barrier outercover material with an almost vacuum state, at least 3 times and no morethan 18 times of a diameter of the organic fiber.
 31. The vacuum heatinsulating material of claim 28, wherein the organic fiber assembly isformed in a sheet-shape by applying heat deposition on continuousorganic fiber, and wherein an area of the heat deposited portion is madeno more than 20% of an area of the sheet.
 32. The vacuum heat insulatingmaterial of claim 28, wherein a fabric weight of a non-woven cloth whichis the organic fiber assembly is at least 85 g/m² and no more than 198g/m², so that deformation of the organic fiber assembly caused bycompression force is made small at the time of vacuum forming.
 33. Thevacuum heat insulating material of claim 31, wherein the heat depositedportion is provided with a through hole or a concave portion which issmaller than a size of the heat deposited portion and within a rangeheat deposition of the organic fiber assembly can be maintained in athickness direction of the organic fiber assembly.
 34. The vacuum heatinsulating material of claim 28, wherein a cross sectional shape of afiber forming the organic fiber assembly is made a modified crosssectional shape such as almost triangular, C-shaped, etc.
 35. The vacuumheat insulating material of claim 28, wherein a plurality of types ofcore material having different fabric weights are mixed and laminated.36. The vacuum heat insulating material of claim 28, wherein the corematerial is formed by a first organic fiber assembly folded andlaminated and a second organic fiber assembly folded and laminated, andwherein the first organic fiber assembly and the second organic fiberassembly are folded so as to intersect each other.
 37. The vacuum heatinsulating material of claim 28, wherein the organic fiber is continuousin a length direction or a width direction of the organic fiberassembly.
 38. The vacuum heat insulating material of claim 28, whereinan organic fiber of the organic fiber assembly is one of polyester,polystyrene, polypropylene, polylactate, aramid, and liquid crystallinepolymer.
 39. A heat insulating box comprising: an external box; and aninternal box arranged inside of the external box, wherein the vacuumheat insulating material of claim 28 is provided at either of a gap on asurface of the external box between the external box and the internalbox, a gap on a surface of the external box between the external box andthe internal box, and a gap on a surface of the internal box between theexternal box and the internal box.
 40. The heat insulating box of claim39, wherein a spacer is provided between the external box and the vacuumheat insulating material.
 41. A refrigerator provided with the vacuumheat insulating material of claim 28 on a storage room door or a heatinsulating wall between a machine room containing a compressor and acooler room containing a cooler generating cold air.
 42. Therefrigerator of claim 41, wherein the vacuum heat insulating material isprovided with an opening portion such as a through hole or a notch, andwherein the opening portion is arranged at a position of a pipingconnecting the compressor and the cooler so that the piping passesthrough the vacuum heat insulating material.
 43. Arefrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus comprising: an outdoor unithaving a cabinet having an almost rectangular cubic shape, a partitionwall for partitioning inside of the cabinet into a fan room containing afan and a machine room containing a compressor, and the vacuum heatinsulating material of claim 28 provided at least a part of an inside oran outside of the machine room.
 44. A water heater comprising: a cabinethaving an almost rectangular cubic shape or an almost cylindrical shape;and a hot water tank having an almost cylindrical shape, for reservingwater or hot water, and contained in the cabinet, wherein all or atleast a part of inside wall of the cabinet is provided with the vacuumheat insulating material of claim
 28. 45. An equipment comprising: analmost cylindrical container such as a compressor or a tank, whereinsurrounding of the container is provided with the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial of claim 28 in which a long fibered organic fiber having alength being equal to or longer than a length of the core material isused.
 46. An equipment such as a refrigerator or arefrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus, etc., displaying an overallview or a partial view such as a cross section, a development view, acubic diagram, a perspective view, etc. of the equipment on a rearsurface or a side surface of a body of the equipment, and furtherdisplaying a provided position of the vacuum heat insulating material ofclaim 28 in either of the overall view or the partial view.
 47. Thevacuum heat insulating material of claim 29, wherein a thickness of theorganic fiber assembly is, when the organic fiber assembly is containedinside of the gas-barrier outer cover material with an almost vacuumstate, at least 3 times and no more than 18 times of a diameter of theorganic fiber.
 48. The vacuum heat insulating material of claim 29,wherein the organic fiber assembly is formed in a sheet-shape byapplying heat deposition on continuous organic fiber, and wherein anarea of the heat deposited portion is made no more than 20% of an areaof the sheet.
 49. The vacuum heat insulating material of claim 29,wherein a fabric weight of a non-woven cloth which is the organic fiberassembly is at least 85 g/m² and no more than 198 g/m², so thatdeformation of the organic fiber assembly caused by compression force ismade small at the time of vacuum forming.
 50. The vacuum heat insulatingmaterial of claim 48, wherein the heat deposited portion is providedwith a through hole or a concave portion which is smaller than a size ofthe heat deposited portion and within a range heat deposition of theorganic fiber assembly can be maintained in a thickness direction of theorganic fiber assembly.
 51. The vacuum heat insulating material of claim29, wherein a cross sectional shape of a fiber forming the organic fiberassembly is made a modified cross sectional shape such as almosttriangular, C-shaped, etc.
 52. The vacuum heat insulating material ofclaim 29, wherein a plurality of types of core material having differentfabric weights are mixed and laminated.
 53. The vacuum heat insulatingmaterial of claim 29, wherein the core material is formed by a firstorganic fiber assembly folded and laminated and a second organic fiberassembly folded and laminated, and wherein the first organic fiberassembly and the second organic fiber assembly are folded so as tointersect each other.
 54. The vacuum heat insulating material of claim29, wherein the organic fiber is continuous in a length direction or awidth direction of the organic fiber assembly.
 55. The vacuum heatinsulating material of claim 29, wherein an organic fiber of the organicfiber assembly is one of polyester, polystyrene, polypropylene,polylactate, aramid, and liquid crystalline polymer.
 56. A heatinsulating box comprising: an external box; and an internal box arrangedinside of the external box, wherein the vacuum heat insulating materialof claim 29 is provided at either of a gap on a surface of the externalbox between the external box and the internal box, a gap on a surface ofthe external box between the external box and the internal box, and agap on a surface of the internal box between the external box and theinternal box.
 57. The heat insulating box of claim 56, wherein a spaceris provided between the external box and the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial.
 58. A refrigerator provided with the vacuum heat insulatingmaterial of claim 29 on a storage room door or a heat insulating wallbetween a machine room containing a compressor and a cooler roomcontaining a cooler generating cold air.
 59. The refrigerator of claim58, wherein the vacuum heat insulating material is provided with anopening portion such as a through hole or a notch, and wherein theopening portion is arranged at a position of a piping connecting thecompressor and the cooler so that the piping passes through the vacuumheat insulating material.
 60. A refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatuscomprising: an outdoor unit having a cabinet having an almostrectangular cubic shape, a partition wall for partitioning inside of thecabinet into a fan room containing a fan and a machine room containing acompressor, and the vacuum heat insulating material of claim 29 providedat least a part of an inside or an outside of the machine room.
 61. Awater heater comprising: a cabinet having an almost rectangular cubicshape or an almost cylindrical shape; and a hot water tank having analmost cylindrical shape, for reserving water or hot water, andcontained in the cabinet, wherein all or at least a part of inside wallof the cabinet is provided with the vacuum heat insulating material ofclaim
 29. 62. An equipment comprising: an almost cylindrical containersuch as a compressor or a tank, wherein surrounding of the container isprovided with the vacuum heat insulating material of claim 29 in which along fibered organic fiber having a length being equal to or longer thana length of the core material is used.
 63. An equipment such as arefrigerator or a refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus, etc.,displaying an overall view or a partial view such as a cross section, adevelopment view, a cubic diagram, a perspective view, etc. of theequipment on a rear surface or a side surface of a body of theequipment, and further displaying a provided position of the vacuum heatinsulating material of claim 29 in either of the overall view or thepartial view.